Frenchmen Stephane Peterhansel and Cyril Despres won the Dakar Rally on Sunday, completing the final stage two weeks after the race began in Argentina.
Peterhansel won Dakar for a record 10th time and Despres added his fourth title.
“This is without a shadow of a doubt the toughest Dakar I’ve ever raced in,” Despres said. “It was difficult physically, but even more psychologically. Challenging yourself every morning and fighting on the course takes its toll on your mind.”
Photo: EPA
The final special stage was only 29km long and both leaders took it easy on the last day. Peterhansel in the cars category and Despres in the motorbikes nearly wrapped up the title on Saturday, needing only to avoid a major catastrophe to climb the podium.
Despres saluted fellow Frenchman Peterhansel.
“There’s only one Stephane Peterhansel in the world,” Despres said.
The 46-year-old Peterhansel has won Dakar six times on motorbikes and now four times in the car category. His last victory was in 2007 in cars and he has been racing Dakar since 1988.
Despres was unsure about making his own switch.
“I don’t know if I’m good at driving cars, I’ve never tried,” Despres said.
Peterhansel said it was a relief to be on the podium again.
“When you think of how hard it is to win a Dakar, it’s incredible that I’ve been able to win 10 of them,” Peterhansel said.
“It’s been a long time. I’ve been waiting for five years to win again,” he said. “To take the victory in South America is a huge relief. It ranks among my best triumphs. Moreover, the race was very close during the first week and there was always a lot of pressure.”
Peterhansel called his victory on a motorcycle in 1991 his best.
“But this one has something special to it,” he said. “I was starting to doubt myself, to think I was growing too old for this, that I’d lost it or that I wasn’t made for South America.”
This is the fourth straight year the Dakar has been run in South America.
The last three years it was run in a loop course from Buenos Aires to Chile and then back to the Argentine capital.
This time the rally began in Mar del Plata, Argentina, skipped Buenos Aires and worked its way across Argentina, crossed the Andes to Chile, and then headed north through the Atacama desert into Peru.
Robby Gordon of the US in a Hummer won the final stage, with Peterhansel in a Mini finishing off the pace — 3 minutes, 12 seconds behind.
In the overall standings, Peterhansel wrapped up the rally by finishing 41 minutes, 56 seconds ahead of Mini teammate Joan Roma of Spain and 1.13:45 in front of Giniel Devilliers of South Africa in a Toyota.
In the motorbikes, Pal Anders Ullevalseter of Norway won the final stage. Despres was 3:51 behind and, like Peterhansel, needed only to play it safe to guarantee victory.
Despres finished 53:20 ahead of KTM teammate Marc Coma of Spain in the overall. Helder Rodrigues of Portugal, riding a Yamaha, was third, 1.11:17 behind the Frenchman.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was