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Cyril Despres’ dream life From Nemours on the banks of Lake Rose, follow the road book of Cyril Despres, Stéphane Peterhansel’s natural successor in the tradition of the great motorbike riders of the desert. The stop watch began ticking on 24th January 1974 in Fontainbleau very near the famous château, “the true home of the kings of France”, as Napoleon put it. The future Prince of the Desert took his first steps there. Cyril really woke up to life some fifteen kilometers away in Nemours. He had a quiet childhood protected by his parents and his elder brother, Frédéric. There was no family link with motor sport. Jean-Claude and Janaine Despres managed motorway restaurants, and that was why they had set up house in Nemours to be near the A6. But destiny had a surprise in store for them. Among their family friends, the Couturier’s son Pascal was a motorbike trials champion. Cyril was bitten by the bug very quickly. At the age of thirteen he followed the classic Christian education and it was time for communion. He was now much more interested in specialised motorcycle magazines than in the good book and he came up with a plan. “Instead of giving me the traditional communion presents, chains and crosses, the whole family gave me money. The total came to four thousand francs (six hundred euros)! So I looked in the classified ads and I found an 80 cc motorbike. I didn’t say a word to my father and one Wednesday I took the train to Paris. It was almost the first time I’d left Nemours and I went to the shop in Levallois that was selling the bike. I got it and when I came home I told my dad that I knew what I wanted to do with my communion money – buy a motorbike. The following week he brought me to collect it in Levallois, so he knew what I was up to!” |
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King of the forests This was the start of his life as a motorbike rider and racer, but he continued his studies. “It was never my strong point. Early on, I felt the need to use my hands rather than my head. I tinkered with my bike and my brother’s in my adolescence and I then did a course in mechanics. It still helps me today in rallies.” He was given his first taste of racing by Pascal Couturier (teams’ double world champion) and Cyril refined his skills in the demanding world of trials for ten years. It is a tough branch of the sport as it requires precision, steadiness, skill, patience and strength. “You are dependant on human judgment. You can do everything well on a passage without putting your foot on the ground, but if a pylon falls it’s a five-point penalty. Very frustrating.” He then felt it was time to look elsewhere. Especially as at the start of each January he saw the Paris-Dakar competitors passing by with his friend from trials, Michel Gau. His debut was in Enduro. In 1998, his first test came in Plomion in the Aisne in a national race in which he scored his first victory. “What I liked was the level playing field aspect in relation to the stopwatch.” This success led to new dreams and new reflections. And the idea of the challenge of the Dakar sprung into his mind with his long-time mate, Michel. “What about doing the Dakar?” The project got under way with the 2000 event as the target. The main obstacle was the budget. Cyril was employed in the workshops of the Challenge 75 competitions tuning firm, and didn’t exactly earn a fortune. But the two guys had ideas even if they didn’t have money. They took their inspiration from the merchandising operations used by some of their rivals and bet on selling wine. Michel and Cyril bought bottles of Bordeaux, Saint Chinian and Chablis and made one thousand cases with one of the bottles in each lot labeled with the Dakar route. “We needed 80 000 francs each. Thanks to the end-of-year festivities, and above all as it was the year 2000, we sold everything to friends and companies in the region.” |
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The first steps of a Prince of the desert Despres’ enthusiasm and initiative were rewarded and he started his first Dakar in January 2000 on a Honda 400 XR with Michel in his wake. He had his first taste of the thrill of the open spaces in the desert. It was a revelation for him (as he was for those following him!) as he was enthralled by the landscapes and the race. He made a stunning debut finishing in sixteenth place and second in his category. “All I was aiming for was a finish when I started. I gradually built up my confidence and at half distance I said to myself that I could end the race well placed. I did the last four stages flat out but without exceeding my limits.” His skills as a rider allied to an approach worthy of an old hand worked wonders. Despres was on his way. He continued with what was left of the wine sale and the backing of the Challenge 75 workshops. In the Tunisian Rally, the next event, he scored his first podium finish with a third place. |
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The year 2000, a turning point The year 2000 was marked by a crucial meeting with Henri Magne. He was among the great co-drivers having navigated for Pierre Lartigue, Ken Shinozuka (with whom he won the 1997 event) and also came first in the Dakar in 2000 with Jean-Louis Schlesser. The rather timid debutant and the taciturn veteran got on like a house on fire. “He offered me a job with him in Andorra to develop and sell specific counters/gauges for racing. My task was to look after the motorbike aspect. We became more than just good friends over the years. He was really my mentor.” Cyril moved to the Pyrenean Principality that year and discovered another life style. Magne’s paternal affection gave him the balance and the roots that he needed as he was far from his own family. It was also the moment when a call from BMW transformed his career. “I went to Munich to meet the bosses, and they chose me for their new Dakar motorbike team. As a result I had to stop working with Henri. He didn’t hold it against me –quite the opposite, in fact!” Cyril was now a professional rider and he was on his way to stardom but he still kept his feet on the ground. In 2001, he finished twelfth in the Dakar, scoring his first stage victory. In 2003, he won three specials and finished on the second step of the podium in Dakar. He also won the Off-Road Rally World Championship. But the best was yet to come. In January 2005, he scored his first outright victory in the Dakar on a works KTM. “That day will remain engraved in my memory forever. Winning the toughest race in the world and going up onto the podium surrounded by the Senegal crowd – Wow, what a great feeling.” It brought to mind his adolescent memories when he watched the competitors streaming by from the roadside. He also thought of his two role models with whom he had teamed up: Richard Sainct who had died the previous autumn and Fabrizio Meoni, victim of a fatal accident in the 11th stage of the 2005 Dakar. |
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Future temptations Cyril is firmly attached to moral values and respect of the family, and he went through another very painful period in 2006 when Henri Magne died following an accident in the Moroccan rally with Nani Rome. He was very affected by this, but showed his force of character by overcoming the emotional anguish. He won the 2007 Dakar and Lady Luck arranged things so that his path crossed that of Laia. In that era, he liked to take full advantage of his bachelor existence, and he now found a new balance in his life. “Laia is a top level sportswoman in cross-country skiing. So she understands the requirements of my job and she accepts them. Even the fact that I’m away five months of the year.” In 2009 Cyril won his second Rally-Raid World Championship but the season became complicated after KTM decided to pull their factory team out of the 2010 Dakar following the organizer ’s decision to impose intake restrictors on bikes over 450. Commented Cyril, “For a while it was touch and go whether I would even be able to enter the race but then with Red Bull and KTM’s help we formed our own team. It was a lot of work, but by the time we got to the start we had everything exactly the way we wanted.” With full backing from Michelin Cyril’s race went like a dream and he dominated the race from the third day all the way to the end to take his third Dakar victory. Having tasted the joys of running his own team, Cyril was determined to tackle the 2011 Dakar in exactly the same way and the whole of his 2010 season has been dedicated to getting his team ready for a fourth victory. “It isn’t the easy option and it takes a lot of time, but this way we can be 100% focused on our goal.” To this end Cyril has reduced his race program and instead concentrated on developing KTM’s new 450 rally bike on which he won ‘first time out’ on the Rallye du Maroc. “It really was a dream competition debut. Absolutely nothing went wrong with the machine and although it was my first time on a rally bike since the Dakar I too was sufficiently ‘ready to race’ to take the victory – it is all very promising for the 2011 Dakar.” |
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Did you know? Cyril Despres loves rugby and supports Perpignan. He was at the 2009 final of the French Rugby Championship won by the Catalans. He’s also a great friend of former French international prop, Christian Califano. |
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