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Cyril Despres
	Cyril Despres in 2009
Personal information
Born	January 24, 1974 (age 50); Nemours, France
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	82 kg (181 lb)
Sport
Country	France
Sport	Motorsport (cars, bikes)
Event	Rally raid
Achievements and titles
World finals	2 World Championship (2003, 2009)
Medal record
Rally raid (bikes)
Rally raid (cars)

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, an enduro event, 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]

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 (CE)			5th	2
2009			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

NOTE: The ASO legally moved the 2008 Dakar race to Hungary and Romania following a terrorist attack in Mauritania by deferring all entries to the replacement event.

Other results

Cars

Silk Way Rally

2016 (Peugeot 2008 DKR), 2017 (Peugeot 3008 DKR)^[15]

Bikes

Tunisia Rally

(2004, 2005, 2009)

(2003)

(2000)

Orient Rally

(2005)

Rallye du Maroc

(2000, 2003, 2010, 2012)

Brazil Rally

(2006, 2011)

(2007, 2009, 2013)

Rally dos Sertões

(2009)

References

^ "Cyril Despres -- Motor Sports Profiles". Red Bull. Archived from the original on 4 April 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
^ World Xtreme Enduro Championship – Cyril Despres Archived 2011-07-17 at the Wayback Machine
^ Rider sheet – Cyril DESPRES Archived 2011-01-05 at the Wayback Machine
^ Cyril Despres, the 07 RB Romaniacs Rally and the brand new 2008 model KTM 300 EXC-E
^ "Team Peugeot Total - The team". redbull.com. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
^ Cyril Despres’s Blog: Dakar Rally | Muddy mayhem, Cyril Despres, 2012-01-10.
^ Cyril Despres gives Marc Coma a commanding lead with mistake on stage eight of the Dakar Rally, 2012-01-10, foxsports australia.
^ 2012 Dakar Rally: Fair Play Abandoned in the Mud (Video) Archived 2014-01-11 at the Wayback Machine, dave on dailypicsandflics with the video of Despres deserting Goncalves, 2012-01-10.
^ Barreda in the top five again Archived 2014-01-11 at the Wayback Machine, Goncalves speedbrain Team site, 2012-01-10.
^ Goncalves Penalized 6 Hours In Dakar Archived 2014-01-11 at the Wayback Machine, 2012-01-12.
^ Organisation, A.S.O. - Amaury Sport. "General ranking stage 13 car page :Dakar". Retrieved 2016-07-30.
^ "The Silk Way Flame". www.silkwayrally.com. Archived from the original on 2016-07-30. Retrieved 2016-07-30.
^ S.14 Despres and Sotnikov score doubles at Xi’an
^ "Check out the all-new OT3 by Overdrive rally raid buggy". Red Bull. Archived from the original on 2020-01-10.
^ "Team PEUGEOT Total Dakar 2018 driver and co-driver presentation". automobilsport.com. Archived from the original on January 13, 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)

External links

Official website
Driver profile Archived 2018-01-12 at the Wayback Machine at Worldrallyraid.com
Driver profile at Dakar.com
Driver profile at Lerepairedesmotards.com

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 David Casteu
Preceded by Marc Coma	Dakar Rally Motorcycle Winner 2010	Succeeded by Marc Coma
Preceded by Marc Coma	Dakar Rally Motorcycle Winner 2012–2013	Succeeded by Marc Coma