Cyril Despres

Cyril Despres in 2009

Cyril Despres (born January 24, 1974 in Nemours, France)^[1] is a French rally racing motorcycle rider and resident of Andorra.^[2] He won the Dakar Rally five times, in 2005, 2007, 2010, 2012 and 2013;^[3] riding a KTM motorcycle. He also won the Red Bull Romaniacs, one of the toughest hard enduro events on the planet, three times, in 2004, 2005 and 2007 and the Erzberg Rodeo in 2002 and 2003.^[4]

On January 10, 2012, at the 2012 Dakar Rally, Portuguese pilot Paulo Gonçalves pulled Despres out of the mud but Cyril did not return the favour. Out of 7 riders all but the Spaniard Marc Coma got stuck, the organisers therefore changed the course. At the end of the stage, the time lost was credited to Despres. Goncalves received a penalty of 6 hours for receiving external help. Coma was not credited the time he lost by going around the mudhole.^{[5][6][7][8][9]}

After a closely fought battle with his KTM teammate, Spaniard Marc Coma for the victory, Despres got back into the lead on the penultimate stage (Stage 13) thanks to a mechanical failure on Coma's bike. Despres managed to maintain the lead until the end of the rally. Thus Cyril Despres gained his fourth overall victory on the Dakar Rally, equaling former Honda and Cagiva rider, Italian Edi Orioli's performance.

A new chapter will begin in his Dakar career in 2015 when he joins the Peugeot team as a driver alongside Carlos Sainz and Stéphane Peterhansel, who previously switched from the motorbike to car category with great success. His co-driver will be Gilles Picard.

Dakar Rally results

Year	Class	Vehicle	Position	Stages won
2000	Motorbike	Honda	16th	0
2001		BMW	13th	1
2002		KTM	DNF	0
2003			2nd	3
2004			3rd	4
2005			1st	2
2006			2nd	4
2007			1st	2
2008	Event cancelled – replaced by Central Europe Rally
2009	Motorbike	KTM	2nd	4
2010			1st	2
2011			2nd	3
2012			1st	3
2013			1st	1
2014		Yamaha	4th	3
2015	Cars	Peugeot	34th	0
2016			7th	0

References

1. Cyril Despres – Red Bull profile
2. World Xtreme Enduro Championship – Cyril Despres
3. Rider sheet – Cyril DESPRES
4. Cyril Despres, the 07 RB Romaniacs Rally and the brand new 2008 model KTM 300 EXC-E
5. Cyril Despres’s Blog: Dakar Rally | Muddy mayhem, Cyril Despres, 2012-01-10.
6. Cyril Despres gives Marc Coma a commanding lead with mistake on stage eight of the Dakar Rally, 2012-01-10, foxsports australia.
7. 2012 Dakar Rally: Fair Play Abandoned in the Mud (Video), dave on dailypicsandflics with the video of Despres deserting Goncalves, 2012-01-10.
8. Barreda in the top five again, Goncalves speedbrain Team site, 2012-01-10.
9. Goncalves Penalized 6 Hours In Dakar, 2012-01-12.

External links

• Official website