Stéphane Peterhansel achieves his 14th Dakar 30 years after the first

If Stéphane Peterhansel (Échenoz-la-Méline, France, 55 years old) is nicknamed Monsieur Dakar, it is for something.

Not only because of the titles he accumulates: six on a motorcycle and eight (with that of this 2021) in the car category;

but, especially, for understanding the competition better than anyone.

French never loses his temper.

Neither the punctures, which also suffers from them, nor the navigation problems have altered its eerie calm.

Assume defeat as gracefully as you see victory coming.

Perhaps that is what most despairs his rivals.

Already mythical rivals, like him, pure racing legend.

Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota), feared in the dunes, or Carlos Sainz (Mini), fast and ambitious, are perhaps more poignant than Peterhansel (Mini).

But they err more.

And so they alternate like kings of a Dakar Rally that finds no alternatives to the three "grandparents", as the Rally director, David Castera, affectionately calls them.

This 2021 therefore it was up to the Frenchman, who benefited from two blunders in the navigation of the Spanish team made up of Sainz and his co-driver Lucas Cruz, champions in 2020, discarded from the fight for victory at the beginning of this second week of competition.

From then on Peterhansel, who won only one stage, the dreaded stage nine, concentrated on not losing sight of the Qatari, always on the attack, trying to scratch minutes at the clock in each kilometer, ready to cause the failure of his rival .

But Monsieur Dakar hardly fails.

In fact, despite not competing in stage victories neither with Al-Attiyah, who won five, nor with Sainz, who added the third this Friday, the Mini one barely got off the podium day in and day out as well.

Your consistency is an extra value.

🏆 1️⃣4️⃣th overall victory for @s_peterhansel!

# Dakar2021 pic.twitter.com/SLYjSoj8FZ

- DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 15, 2021

And if he didn't fail in 11 stages, he wasn't going to do it in the last one either: 202 kilometers between Yanbu and Jeddah, where he started with more than 15 minutes of advantage in the general classification.

Too much time to cut back in such a short time and during the smoothest stage of a fast race that put the cars on such narrow roads that some doubted whether it would be possible to reach the final finish without too many scratches.

“It was a very tough race and with a lot of pressure defending the lead, which is when you feel like you have everything to lose.

We did a very precise Dakar, without big mistakes, that was the key this year ”, conceded the winner.

It was Sainz who took the 12th special, but the star of the day was Peterhansel: third on the stage, just over two minutes behind the Spaniard and a few seconds behind Al-Attiyah, who tried to the last meters.

The final podium is also shared between the three, with the Madrid at the end of a top 3 whose healthy rivalry will always be remembered, when the day comes when younger riders take over.

“I'm half happy, happy for the podium and for the speed, not so much for the work that Lucas and I did.

We did not understand the navigation or the road book very well.

And we pay dearly for it.

Happy also for the team and for Stéphane, who had a fantastic rally.

He deserves victory more than anyone ”, declared the Spaniard as he handed over the champion crown to his teammate.