Want to race the Dakar? First, you’re going to have to get fit. Two weeks and 5,000km of all-day off-roading isn’t for fatties. Here, three-time winner Cyril Despres takes you inside his gym routine. Time for a New Year’s resolution? :continue:
Actually, it’s not just Dakar legend Despres, but French mountain biker Cedric Gracia too. That sort of drives home the whole point of the KTM Freeride 350 — at just 219lbs it’s accessible enough for a cyclist, but still capable enough for a professional used to 450 rally bikes. As a dirt n00b looking to get much better, I’m seriously excited for this enduro to arrive next year. :continue:
Cyril Despres, Marc Coma, Juan Pedrero and Ruben Faria are pictured here carrying out final tests of the KTM 450 Rally ahead of the 2012 Dakar. The bikes are now packed up and winging their way to Argentina. This year’s rally starts on the Atlantic coast at Mar Del Plata, but unlike previous years, finishes on the Pacific in a new country — Peru. :continue:
Despite the new 450cc capacity limit and running all-new bikes (the KTM 450 Rally) Marc Coma and Cyril Despres gave KTM a one, two, marking the Austrian manufacturer’s 10th consecutive rally win. But the Dakar isn’t just about KTM picking on everyone else, it’s really about you and I getting new desktop wallpapers. The rally produces some of the most stunning images of motorcycle racing ever captured. Here’s the 10 best photos to come out of this year’s race. :continue:
Here’s high-res images and video recaps from Dakar stages 7 through 11. KTM’s Marc Coma and Cyril Despres continue to contest first and second places despite giving away stage victories both to Aprilia and Jonah Street. At ninth place, Quinn Cody is the highest ranked American thanks to a string of consistent top-12 aboard his Honda CRF450X. :continue:
As of this morning, with Stage 6 just setting off, KTM’s Marc Coma leads the 2011 Dakar closely followed by teammate Cyril Despres. KTM’s continued dominance even with this year’s 450cc engines isn’t surprising, but the spread of the field just below those two leaders is. There’s also an Aprilia, BMW and Yamaha in the top five overall, while BMW won yesterday’s stage with an Aprilia just two seconds behind. Here’s every high-res photo and comprehensive video material from Dakar’s first five days.
Photos: Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Photofiles
Update: video material from stage 6 added.
Let’s do some word association. If we say “Cyril Despres,” what’s the first thing that comes to your mind? The Dakar, right? The 36-year-old Frenchman only started racing Enduro in 1998 and entered the rally for the first time, while it was still being held in Africa, in 2000. By 2002 he’d won his first stage and in 2005, riding for KTM, he won the rally outright. He won again in 2007 and in 2010, success he hopes to repeat when the 2011 Dakar begins in Buenos Aires on January 1. Here, Red Bull profiles its extraordinary athlete and we’ve thrown in 41 high-res images of Cyril in action, both in rallying and Enduro, for good measure.
Photos: Samo Vidic/Andre Chaco/Jorge Ferrari/Marcelo Maragni/Mihai Stetcu/Predrag Vuckovic/Alfredo Escobar/Gustavo Cherro/Red Bull Photofiles
These photos and this video were taken as Marc Coma, Cyril Despres and Juan Pedrero put in a practice session on the KTM 450 Rally. The 2011 Dakar kicks off in Buenos Aires on 1 January, complete with an uncommonly diverse grid. Still, this €29,300 factory racer looks to be the bike to beat.
Photos: Edmunds J./KTM Images
The KTM 450 Rally might only have debuted to the world at the EICMA motorcycle show this morning, but it’s already got a race win under its belt. Riding KTM’s new Dakar racer, Cyril Despres (above) finished first in the seven-day Rallye du Maroc last month while Marc Coma, also riding a 450, finished third. The 2011 Dakar rally kicks off on January 1.
Photos: Rossignol, A.
Photos: Pablo Molina/Andre Chaco/Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Photofiles
The remoteness and sheer scale of the Dakar makes it nearly impossible to cover. Rather than try and bring you live results (Bikes In The Fast Lane is a good place for those) we’re going to focus on sharing photos and videos that illustrate what makes the South American race so special. Today we have these action shots of Red Bull riders Cyril Despres (current race leader), Marc Coma and Ruben Faria all mounted on restricted 690cc KTMs. Video recaps of the first two stages follow the jump. > :continue:
