The 8th Emilie Poucan Prize for the best photo

Dakar 2018 | Stage 14 | Cordoba > Cordoba
January 20 ^th 2018 - 14:55 [GMT -3]

The Emilie Poucan Prize for the best photo of the 2018 edition of the Dakar has been unanimously awarded by the jury* to Eric Vargiolu, a photographer for the DPPI agency who is covering his 40th Dakar this year:

“I had studied this stage and observed that the first cars were going to set off at 6 o’clock in the morning, when the sun would be rising and that the general direction the competitors would head in was due east. This made it possible to have perfect lighting and take advantage of the first rays of sunshine, whilst crossing fingers and hoping there was no morning fog. For the first time, the cars started before the riders and there were no tracks left by the bikes, which is exceptional!”

Emilie Poucan was a press attaché on the Dakar until 2010, when she was a victim of a plane crash on the way back from South Africa on the day of her 32nd birthday. This competition was created in 2011 to may homage to her.

* The jury is made up of Etienne Lavigne (Dakar Director), Philippe Sudres (A.S.O. Communications Director), Marc Coma (Dakar Sporting Director) and Lionel Chamoulaud (France Televisions).