DAKAR RALLY IS OVER; CYRIL DESPRES WINS: But We Are Most Proud of Ludo Boinnard; He Raced Over 4000 Miles on a Freshly Broken Arm, Congratulations Ludo

DAKAR RALLY IS OVER; CYRIL DESPRES WINS:
BUT WE ARE MOST PROUD OF LUDO BOINNARD; HE RACED OVER 4000 MILES ON A FRESHLY BROKEN ARM, CONGRATULATIONS LUDO

Cyril Despres crosses the finish line after 9000 kilometers of racing.

We will get to the overall winner of the 2010 Dakar Rally in due time, but MXA wants to say how proud we are of our buddy Ludo Boinnard. Although Ludo is a veteran of many offroad rallys, this was his first Dakar Rally. We wished and prayed that Ludo would make it to the finish line…because in the past he has had some very serious get-offs.

Amazingly, on the final stage of the rally, Ludo had his best day of the 14 Stages?finishing 23rd for the stage. Ludo finished Dakar in 40th overall. That is 40th out of 143 starters…and Ludo broke his arm racing at Glen Helen’s REM races just three weeks before the start of Dakar. He took the cast offf himself and headed to South America as part of the three-man Sherco team. When team leader David Casteu broke his leg while running second overall in the rally, Ludo and teammate Mike Pisano continued on. Pisano ended up 28th overall.


This is how Ludo (43) prepared for the Dakar Rally. This crash in December broke his arm. He raced Dakar anyway.


Congratulations Ludo! You finished the toughest race in the world.

NOW FOR THE WINNER

Dakar 2010 was triumph for Cyril Despres. He rode in triumph into Buenos Aires to complete his third Dakar victory. Despres, who completed the final stage, a total ride of 707 km with a timed special of 206 km of fast track riding to finish the stage in a comfortable eighth place. He was five minutesÿ ndÿ seconds behind the winner of the day, rather fittingly, his KTM support rider, Rubin Faria of Portugal. Despres, who also won in 2005 and 2007 when the rally was staged across Africa, was one hour 02′ 52″ minutes in front of the pack in overall time.
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“All victories are nice but this one is particularly beautiful,” he 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. I am human. I know I have been riding this bike for 15 days and I am exhausted but the little strength I had left just went in tears. KTM played a big part in this victory. They trusted us. We chose everyone. We have been working 24/7 for months. One thing is clear; I was not afraid of losing. I just wanted to win. And this will to win was stronger than the fear of losing. It was a tough Dakar, a beautiful Dakar and I am so glad I wo n.”
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Marc Coma, Despres’ eternal rival finished in 15th place after penalties put him out of contention. But he still had four stage wins to his credit and, penalties aside, his actual riding time was remarkable close to that of Despres, proof enough that the two KTM riders are in a class of their own in international rally competition. The result was all the more remarkable because both Despres and Coma had to ride with air restrictors on their KTM 690 rally machines, to reduce the performance down to the level of a 450 cc bike, since the middle of 2010, the new standard for racing the Dakar.


Ludo Boinnard.

STAGE 14 RESULTS
1. Rubin Faria, Portugal KTM
2. Pal Ullevalseter, Norway, KTM
3. Helder Rodrigues, Portugal, Yamaha
4. Alan Duclos France, KTM
5. David Fretigne, France, Yamaha
6. Cyril Despres, Andorra, KTM (at 5’05”)
8. Marc Coma, Spain, KTM
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FINAL STANDINGS 2010 DAKAR RALLY
1. Cyril Despres, Andorra, KTM (2010 winner)
2. Pal Ullevalseter, Norway, KTM (at 1:02’52”)
3. Francisco Lopez, Chile, Aprilia, (at 1:08.34)
4. Helder Rodrigues, Portugal, Yamaha
5. David Fretigne, France, Yamaha
15. Marc Coma, Spain, KTMÿÿÿÿ

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Images J. van Oersÿ

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