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Who is Stéphane Peterhansel, Dakar legend and winner for the 14th time?

2021-01-15T14:01:49.131Z


The French driver won his 14th rally this Friday, 30 years after his first victory. Incredible longevity for the safe


The first time he triumphed, in 1991, François Mitterrand still reigned over the Elysée.

Stéphane Peterhansel was 25 years old, rode a Yamaha motorcycle with the carefree youthfulness of his hair and a blue bandana on his head.

The race still justified its name and rolled on the African tracks between Paris and Dakar.

Since then, she has traveled from Cape Town to Saudi Arabia via the South American continent.

But he is still there, in the place he prefers: the first.

Thirty years after his first victory, Stéphane Peterhansel won the Dakar for the 14th time this Friday.

It's easy to count: since that date, the Frenchman has almost won one in two Dakar.

And don't ask him what his favorite hit is.

For three decades he has consistently given the same answer "The most beautiful will always be my first on a motorcycle in 1991." You never forget your first time ...

First champion of ... skateboarding

Whoever once nicknamed him “Monsieur Dakar” couldn't have been better.

Besides this record which will undoubtedly never be broken - the one who follows him on the prize list is a Russian truck driver with 7 victories - Peterhansel is the only one to have emerged as a winner on three continents: Africa, South America and Asia.

With Hubert Auriol, who died on January 10, and the Spaniard Nani Roma, he is one of the very few champions who have won on two and four wheels.

Peterhansel has won six times in motorcycles (1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998) and eight times in cars (2004, 2005, 2007, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2021).

He also holds the record for victories in both categories: unique!

Success thirty years apart on the same competition: there are few champions who have accomplished such a feat.

Stéphane Peterhansel is one of them and, beyond his extraordinary track record, it is this longevity that impresses.

🏆 1️⃣4️⃣th overall victory for @s_peterhansel!

# Dakar2021 pic.twitter.com/SLYjSoj8FZ

- DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 15, 2021

But who is this lord of the desert with his skin chipped by the sun?

It is far from the dunes that it was created in 1965 near Vesoul (Haute-Saône), which made it its honorary citizen.

His dad was passionate about mechanics and “Mr. Dakar” rode his first motorcycle at the age of 8.

He was already discovering the great outdoors but on a skate-board, very fashionable in the 1970s, little Peterhansel won his first cup and a title of champion of France in 1979. He quickly became one of the best specialists in skateboarding in Europe: “It was my main passion.

I spent my weekends and evenings there, ”he emphasizes.

Today in Vesoul, a skatepark bears his name.

He went to the car in 1999

But the motorcycle quickly took the place and, from the beginning of the 1980s, he won his first enduro races by borrowing the identity of his father because he was not yet of the required age.

Over the years he will become 11 times French enduro champion.

1988 is the year his life changes.

He discovers a love that will never leave him: the Paris-Dakar rally in which he is participating for the first time.

He finished anonymously in 18th place but it was to come back better.

After three training editions, he imprinted his name on the prize list in 1991 between Paris and Dakar via Tripoli.

Gilles Lalay and Thierry Magnaldi, the two best bikers in the world at that time, can only bow to the youngster.

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A year later when the rally goes to Cape Town in South Africa, it still triumphs.

During the 1990s, when he did not win, it was because he was not at the start.

And it is rare.

In 1998, he won for the last time on a motorcycle but a violent pain in the wrist during the entire trip made him think.

The following year, he returned, but driving a car, a Nissan from Manchois André Dessoude.

Second in 2000 when the world turned into the third millennium, the former biker got his hands on rallies in Tunisia and Dubai before coming back as boss on the Dakar in 2004. With Mitsubishi, he won again.

"Monsieur Dakar" is back and not for fun.

He wins, again and again and it's been 17 years now, 30 if you add the bike.

This Friday, at the arrival of his 14th triumph, he did not suggest that it would be his last.

The saga will continue… Inevitably.

Source: leparis

All sports articles on 2021-01-15

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