Once in a blue moon

Dakar 2024 | Stage 2 | AL HENAKIYAH > AL DUWADIMI
January 7 ^th 2024 - 11:50 [GMT + 3]

It is rare to see former professional riders come back to the Dakar as amateurs after hanging up their helmets. It is even rarer after hitting the big five-oh. And, once in a blue moon, they sign up for the Original by Motul category.

Thierry Béthys is one of the 28 riders in Original by Motul, the ones who set out to tame the sands on their own, without a support crew to service their motorbikes at night. They take care of everything themselves, including sleeping under their tent, right behind their machines, in a section where the French oil company provides them with bare-bones technical facilities. "Boom Boom", as he was nicknamed when he was a professional motocross rider, has always had a close relationship with three elements: sand, Honda and another Thierry. Sand racing was his speciality for Honda. He thrice won the Enduro du Touquet (2000, 2001 and 2003), the off-road endurance event created by Thierry Sabine that has been held since 1975 on the beach of the French seaside resort. Following his successes, Béthys stayed in the rut carved by Sabine: "I did the 2006 and 2007 Dakars, the last ones in Africa, then three in Argentina in 2009, 2011 and 2012 and one in 2017, where another brand called me two months before. We weren't ready, the bike caught fire and I quit." All his Dakar starts on a Honda ended in the top 25, with the highlight being eighth place in 2007. "I recently had laser eye surgery, I'm getting old, I turned 52 last year. I got back into biking because I could see much better and I didn’t need glasses anymore. Every year, I saw the footage from here on TV and I really wanted to discover the country. Every time I did the Dakar before, I came to wander around and see how it went in the malles-motos. I had that in me, I thought, why not do it some day? Béthys was expecting a bit of a culture shock, especially the electronic tablet that had taken the place of the paper he was used to. It was a change big enough to miss a few waypoints in the prologue and cop a half-hour penalty. On the evening of the first special, longer than 400 kilometres, Béthys was feeling the heat: "It was tough, the rocks, I hate them already, and I got my fill. I'm happy, didn't fall a single time, even though it was close. I spent eight hours on the bike and I didn't slack off. I think it’s the second time in seven Dakars that I get to the bivouac at night. The first time was two days from the finish, I had got stuck three hours in a ford before restarting the bike. The pace is really high. There are only 130 or 140 bikes I think, the selection is harder, the guys are better trained and more experienced. I can see that. Before, over there in Africa, the field was more than 200-strong and there were lots of guys who signed up almost on a whim, there was a huge gap. Here, they all ride well. I tip my hat to the guys who do it every year, I don't know if I'll do it a second time. A stage like today, it rattles you". And that's "Boom Boom" talking.