Despres wins his closest Dakar yet

The world's most arduous desert rally has been run and won for 2012, with Frenchman Cyril Despres taking his fourth Dakar win, and the 11th title for the KTM.

"Today we won and it's simply fantastic," said a jubilant Despres, who was in Australia in 2011 contesting the Australasian Safari.

"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," said an elated, if exhausted, Despres.

Despres cements his place in the Dakar Rally hall of fame, having won three times before this - 2005, 2007, 2010 and now 2012.

KTM meanwhile has dominated the event winning every year since 2001 (except 2008, when the Dakar was cancelled due to security issues), giving the brand continued bragging rights in the adventure bike market.

KTM took out four of the top five spots, with Despres Spanish team mate Marc Coma in second, Portugal's Helder Rodrigues (Yamaha) in third, Spain's Jordi Viladoms (KTM) in fourth and Slovakia's Stefan Svitko (KTM) in fifth.

As KTM obliterates the opposition again, some punters must be wondering what can be done to prevent the Austrian motorcycle company's vice-like grip on the Dakar Rally tightening for another 10 years. Changes in the rules in 2011 - limiting bikes to 450cc - were aimed at reducing KTM's stranglehold on the event, but have since proved to be ineffective. Have your say on KTM's dominance - good, bad or otherwise - in the comments below.

The 2012 Dakar Rally was an almost 9000km race between Argentina and Lima that took competitors through the Peruvian plains, high into the Andes and into the unforgiving Atacama Desert in Chile.

The 2012 event was also the first time the rally had included Peru, and the first time it represented a dash from the Atlantic coastline to the Pacific.

Overall Results after final Stage 14
1, Cyril Despres, France, KTM, 43 hours 28 minutes and 11 seconds 
2, Marc Coma, Spain, KTM at 53:20
3, Helder Rodrigues, Portugal, Yamaha at 1:11:17
4, Jordi Viladoms, Spain, KTM at 1:40:56
5, Stefan Svitko, Slovakia, KTM at 1:47:28