- Despres
After 5,580 miles and 20 hours of racing, Cyril Despres wraps up his 4th title while in the cars Stephane Peterhansel wins his 10th. Video below.
Marc Coma said: “I finished second in what was a difficult rally. I gave it my all every single day. I wish to congratulate Cyril. He’s the champion. But I’m going to work hard to try and win again next year. If we keep alternating… it should be my turn! But first I have to work.”
Despres had this to say: “When you think of how hard it is to win a Dakar, it’s incredible that I’ve been able to win ten of them. It’s been a long time, I’ve been waiting for five years to win again! To take the victory in South America is a huge relief, it ranks among my best triumphs. Moreover, the race was very close during the first week and there was always a lot of pressure. Winning the rally for Team X-Raid makes it even more special, since Sven Quandt has been waiting for years for this to happen. I don’t know what I could do to go one better! Beating this record is going to be difficult… for the others! This race is stressful, exciting and fascinating, and it’s also very rewarding at the end. Now I’m going to party with the entire team and then we’ll see. My finest victory will always be my first win in the motorcycle category, but this one has something special to it. I was starting to doubt myself, to think I was growing too old for this, that I’d lost it or that I wasn’t made for South America… and in the end everything turned out fine! But I still have a blue bandana from my motorcycling period. I didn’t tell anyone, but I kept it in my pocket throughout the entire rally. It’s the story of the comeback of the blue bandana.”
From Robbie Gordon: “We were very fast this morning. I think we beat the second car by 1’30” over a bit more than 20 km. But I’ve always thought that second place is just the first among the losers. So I’m afraid we’re fourth among the losers! But the best thing was having the fastest car in the rally, whatever the others say. My Hummer and Nasser’s were the two fastest cars. I may come back.”