Despres wins third Dakar
Waltzes in by over an hourFrench-born Andorran Cyril Despres has won his third Dakar Rally after a 9000km marathon across Argentina and Chile.
He rode into Buenos Aires to complete his third Dakar victory and the 10th for KTM (it's now been undefeated since 2001), finishing nearly 63 minutes ahead of Norwegian Pal Ullevalseter (KTM), with Chilean Francisco Lopez third on his Aprilia.
After a drama-packed rally where penalties put him out of the running for outright honours, defending champion Mar Coma (KTM) was a distant 15th, while two Aussies completed the epic: Rob Pollard (KTM) in 38th and Christophe Barriere Varju (KTM) in 56th. Garry Connell (Husaberg) retired in stage three.
Eighty-eight riders completed the rally, with 63 DNFs.
"All victories are nice but this one is particularly beautiful," Despres said. "It is the victory of hard work, of expertise and of an incredible team. There are nine of us in the team and not one of us ever let go. We all wanted to win; we all wanted to fight hard and we won. It's just fantastic. Of course there is a lot of emotion."
Despres has now joined Richard Sainct, Stephane Peterhansel, Cyril Neveu and Edi Orioli as a three-time or better winner in the Dakar, following his victories in 2005 and 2007.
Meanwhile, Coma won four stages in this year's Dakar and, penalties aside, his actual riding time was remarkably close to that of Despres.
Click in the following link for the final standings in the 2010 Dakar Rally.
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