Six reasons why the 2020 Dakar Rally was so captivating

Held for the first time in Saudi Arabia, the 42nd edition of the Dakar Rally started from the third different continent in its history. More than a few teams were looking to use the new battleground to rewrite the history books.

All manufacturers were determined to break KTM’s 18-year winning streak, none more than Honda who hasn’t tasted a Dakar victory since Frenchman Gillies Lalay won in 1989. Its mission to add a sixth Dakar winner’s trophy to its books hasn’t been easy. There was the illegal refuelling penalties in 2017 which cost Spanish rider Joan Barreda Bort the lead and the penalties for Kevin Benavides who was caught concealing course notes on himself and in his bike during last year’s event. Honda argued both incidents were within an interpretation of the rulebook, but race direction disagreed.

American Honda rider Ricky Brabec was set to break the deadlock in 2019 but his campaign ended in heartbreak when the engine in his CRF450 had other ideas.

Be it bikes, cars, trucks, quads or UTVs, an American had never once tasted the winner’s champagne leading into the 2020 edition of the world’s toughest off-road race.

Danny LaPorte rode his Cagiva Elefant 900 to second place behind Stephane Peterhansel (Yamaha) in 1998, and Jimmy Lewis (BMW) and Chris Blais (KTM) both celebrated third-place finishes in 2000 and 2007 respectively. But Ricky Brabec made history when he piloted his Monster Energy Honda CRF450 to victory in the 2020 Dakar Rally. He was joined on the podium by Pablo Quintanilla (+16m26s) and Toby Price (+24m06s).

As well as two-time winner Toby Price (Red Bull KTM) and Yamaha veteran Rod Faggotter who competed in his sixth Dakar Rally this month, rookies Matthew Tisdall (KTM) and Trevor Wilson (Husqvarna) joined Ben Young (KTM) on the 2020 start line.

Despite scoring his fifth podium in six attempts, 2020 was largely a year to forget for the defending Dakar champ. A torn roadbook and a navigational error put the Aussie on the back foot in the early stages of the race, dropping the Aussie back to ninth in the overall standings after just two stages. He had clawed his way up to third place by the end of the sixth stage, but was the first rider to come across the crash scene of veteran Portuguese Dakar rider Paulo Goncalves during the seventh stage.

Faggotter scored his best-ever Dakar finish when he ended the race in 13th place. The Queenslander bettered both his 2013 result of 14th and 2018 result of 16th this year. His best stage result came at the end of stage 10, where he finished sixth, just over four minutes off the winner.

Ben Young was the next-best placed Aussie, finishing 58th in what is his second Dakar Rally. After fracturing his hand on the fifth stage last year and riding through the pain to finish 51st, the self-funded KTM rider came back for more. The Melbourne man was lucky to walk away from a fast crash on stage nine but rode a consistent race right to the end.

As if being a Dakar rookie isn’t tough enough, Trevor Wilson was one of just 40 riders who entered in the unassisted Original by Motul category. He finished 17th in the category, was the 15th ranked rookie and placed 76th overall.

Rookie Matt Tisdall who has only been riding motorbikes for the last six years outclassed many high-profile riders by simply making the finish line. He finished 96th.

Long-time KTM rider and newly crowned Dakar Legend Laia Sanz was on board Gas Gas machinery for 2020. Sanz, who this year started her 10th Dakar Rally. With a worst place finish of 93rd and a best place finish of ninth, the 34-year-old is one of the very few riders who can lay claim to finishing every Dakar she’s started.

South African riders Taye Perry and Kirsten Landman both make their Dakar debuts in 2020, finishing 77th and 55th respectively. French rider Mirjam Pol was back for her eighth edition of Dakar and finished the event in 41st overall. After failing to finish in her rookie attempt last year, Spanish rider Sara Garcia was back for 2020 and competing in the Original by Motul category alongside boyfriend Javier Vega Puerta. She finished 22nd in the unassisted category and 86th overall.

Like former Britsh enduro champ Mick Extance who was diagnosed with a brain tumour almost three years ago and was told his chances of waking up from his life-saving surgery being able to see was just one percent. He’d raced Dakar seven times between 2002 and 2009, so when the 56-year-old defied the odds and retained his vision, he committed to Dakar 2020. It looked to be all over for Extance on stage seven when a damaged rear wheel bought his Dakar to an end, but a donor wheel from another competitor put his race back on track. He went on to finish.

Meanwhile, Daniel Albero Puig’s plight to become the first insulin-dependant Type 1 diabetic to finish Dakar was curtailed for the second year in a row when the engine on his Husqvarna blew during the seventh stage.

Elsewhere, two-time World Enduro Champion Johnny Aubert’s fairytale comeback ride came to abrupt halt when the 39-year-old crashed just two kilometres short of the end of the last day before the rest day, resulting in head and rib injuries and his withdrawal from what was his third Dakar attempt.

And some brotherly love, too: “It’s very nice to ride the Dakar with my brother,” Red Bull KTM’s Luciano Benavides said after the sixth stage riding alongside factory Honda-mounted older brother Kevin. “Today is the first stage where we’ve really ridden together and it’s very special.”

The 2020 Dakar Rally was marred by the death of Paulo Goncalves, who suffered a fatal crash during the seventh stage of what was his 13th Dakar event.

After five years in the factory Honda squad and with whom he claimed his best ever Dakar finish in 2015 when he finished runner up to Marc Coma, the 40-year-old Portuguese rider had taken on a new challenge for 2020 having signed for Hero Motorsport.

Australia’s Toby Price stopped to help the fallen rider and spent almost an hour and a half at the scene assisting the medical crew.

“I helped assist carrying him to the helicopter as it was the right thing to do,” said Price, who finished one place behind Goncalves in third when he claimed his maiden Dakar podium on debut in 2015. “I was first at his side and wanted to be the last to leave.”

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