Tobias Ebster: “It’s the toughest rally in the world. I love it”

Dakar 2024 | Stage 12 | YANBU > YANBU
January 19 ^th 2024 - 11:17 [GMT + 3]

Kinigadner’s nephew has won the Original by Motul category on his first participation on the Dakar.

“I’ve been thinking so much about what happened in the last few years and now being here at the finish for my first Dakar as winner of Original Motuel and in the top 20 overall, best rookie, well, it’s a big one, it’s a really big one. Thank you, I almost need to cry after going through so much in the last few years and also the last few weeks. I made new friends, I lost friends, it was such a big adventure, it was so tough. It was so rough. It’s the toughest rally in the world. I love it, I enjoyed every moment. I had so much fun. Thank you to everybody for being here and for helping me in any possible way, from KTM, from Red Bull… This means a lot to me. In some ways, yes of course it was what I expected. Top twenty overall as an unassisted biker, nobody has done it before, so this is awesome. Nobody as an unassisted biker has gone into the top ten, but I did on stage five, got a Rally 2 win and made history… In some ways, it was what I expected, but it was so tough. Three months ago, I had surgery on my shoulder and everybody thought I was done. Two months ago, I had surgery on my wrist and everybody thought I was done, but I said, ‘no I’m going to keep fighting and I’m going to be there. The most difficult thing in the rally? Everything. It was really, really tough and winning it as an unassisted biker I have to give big respect to all the unassisted bikers out there. This is the real deal, this is the real Dakar rally, definitely”.