Despres beats KTM teammate Marc Coma in a hotly contested fight for the 2012 Dakar Rally
FRENCHMAN Cyril Despres has claimed his fourth win at the Dakar Rally.
The 2012 rally produced an exciting duel between Despres, who also won the event in 2005, 2007 and 2010, and last year's winner Marc Coma. The pair fought one of the closest battles in Dakar's history, over the punishing 8,391km route through Argentina, Chile and ending in Peru.
Despres took the victory by 53m 20s after Coma incurred a penalty for making a second engine change at the end of the 13th stage on Saturday. Before the penultimate stage the pair were separated by minutes.
After the gruelling race, Despres said: “Today we won and it's simply fantastic, this is without a shadow of a doubt the toughest Dakar I've ever raced in. It was difficult physically, but even more psychologically. Challenging yourself every morning and fighting on the course takes its toll on your mind.
“It's not like a 42-kilometer marathon; here, you have to earn your place every morning. All victories are beautiful, but this one is special because it came down to the wire and was decided at the last minute. This was an unimaginable scenario, with the leaders separated by mere seconds. I've done 90 or 85 rallies throughout my life, and this one was the one where I had to fight the hardest. Today will leave its mark on me.”
Overall Results after Stage 14:
1, Cyril Despres, France, KTM, 43 hours 28 minutes and 11 seconds
2, Marc Coma, Spain, KTM +53:20
3, Helder Rodrigues, Portugal, Yamaha +1:11:17
4, Jordi Viladoms, Spain, KTM +1:40:56
5, Stefan Svitko, Slovakia, KTM +1:47:28
