Cyril Despres

Cyril Despres (born 24 January 1974)[1] is a French rally racer and resident of Andorra.[2] He won the Dakar Rally five times, in 2005, 2007, 2010, 2012 and 2013,[3] riding a KTM motorcycle. He also won the Red Bull Romaniacs, one of the toughest hard enduro events on the planet, three times, in 2004, 2005 and 2007 and the Erzberg Rodeo in 2002 and 2003.[4] In the 2018 season he is one of the official drivers of the Team Peugeot Total.[5]

Cyril Despres
Cyril Despres in 2009
Personal information
Born (1974-01-24) January 24, 1974
Nemours, France
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight82 kg (181 lb)
Sport
Country France
SportMotorsport (cars, bikes)
Event(s)Rally raid
Achievements and titles
World finals2 World Championship (2003, 2009)

Career

On 10 January 2012, at the 2012 Dakar Rally, Portuguese pilot Paulo Gonçalves pulled Despres out of the mud but Cyril did not return the favour. Out of 7 riders all but the Spaniard Marc Coma got stuck; the organisers therefore changed the course. At the end of the stage, the time lost was credited to Despres. Goncalves received a penalty of 6 hours for receiving external help. Coma was not credited the time he lost by going around the mudhole.[6][7][8][9][10]

After a closely fought battle with his KTM teammate, Spaniard Marc Coma for the victory, Despres got back into the lead on the penultimate stage (Stage 13) thanks to a mechanical failure on Coma's bike. Despres managed to maintain the lead until the end of the rally. Thus Cyril Despres gained his fourth overall victory on the Dakar Rally, equaling former Honda and Cagiva rider, Italian Edi Orioli's performance.

A new chapter began in his Dakar career in 2015 when he joined the Peugeot team as a driver alongside Carlos Sainz and Stéphane Peterhansel, who previously switched from the motorbike to car category with great success. His co-driver was Gilles Picard, and they finished 34th. In 2016 Despres came in 7th overall; his co-driver was David Castera.[11]

In July 2016, he and Castera won the cars' category at the Silk Way Rally.[12] Despres and his partner repeated their success in the next year.[13]

Dakar Rally results

Year Class Vehicle Position Stages won
2000 Motorbike Honda 16th 0
2001 BMW 13th 1
2002 KTM DNF 0
2003 2nd 3
2004 3rd 4
2005 1st 2
2006 2nd 4
2007 1st 2
2008 Event cancelled – replaced by Central Europe Rally
2009 Motorbike KTM 2nd 4
2010 1st 3
2011 2nd 3
2012 1st 3
2013 1st 1
2014 Yamaha 4th 3
2015 Cars Peugeot 34th 0
2016 7th 0
2017 3rd 1
2018 31st 1
2019 Mini 5th 0
2020 SSV OT3 buggy[14] DNF 0
2021 Cars Peugeot 10th 0

Other results

Cars
2016 (Peugeot 2008 DKR), 2017 (Peugeot 3008 DKR)[15]
Bikes
(2004, 2005, 2009)
(2003)
(2000)
  • Orient Rally
(2005)
(2000, 2003, 2010, 2012)
(2006, 2011)
(2007, 2009, 2013)
(2009)

References

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Nani Roma
Dakar Rally
Motorcycle Winner

2005
Succeeded by
Marc Coma
Preceded by
Marc Coma
Dakar Rally
Motorcycle Winner

2007
Succeeded by
Marc Coma
Preceded by
Marc Coma
Dakar Rally
Motorcycle Winner

2010
Succeeded by
Marc Coma
Preceded by
Marc Coma
Dakar Rally
Motorcycle Winner

20122013
Succeeded by
Marc Coma
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