2011 July

After having participated in the Etape du Tour and Everts and Friends Charity Race Cyril Despres’ summer schedule continues with a flight to Colombia to compete in the Red Bull Los Andes Internatonal Enduro.

Cyril Despres

“My summer programme continues unabated – even if we haven’t had much summer weather so far this year! That was certainly the case for the Etape du Tour on 17 July. For those who haven’t heard of this event, the idea is that 4000 amateur cyclists line up on the Tour du France rest day to tackle one of the Tour’s harder stages – in this case 208 kms between Issoire and Saint Flour. To say the weather was atrocious would be something of an understatement! At the top of the first col it was just 2 degrees centigrade and it took me almost 9 hours to finish the route. My respect for the professionals is greater than ever!

Shortly after that it was off to Belgium for the Everts and Friends Charity Race. It is not often that I find myself behind the starting gate alongside the world’s best moto-x riders – especially aboard my 450 rally bike! And though neither myself nor my bike were in our natural element, I at least proved it is possible to jump a ‘table’ on a bike with a fully fairing. An excellent event, a good laugh and a worthy cause.
Which brings me pretty much up to date. Right now I am sitting in the departure lounge at Lisbon airport waiting to fly to Colombia for the Second Red Bull Los Andes International Enduro. I won the first one in Chile back in 2009, after a memorable battle with Chaleco Lopez, but I think the format of this edition is not going to suit me as well – less extreme, more classic enduro. Still, I’m not going all that way without giving it my best shot! I’ll be sure to let you know how I get on.

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The last time I wrote I was on the way to the Erzberg Rodeo and since then I’ve been to Paris and Peru – so not too much time to keep you up to date on my progress!

The Rodeo itself was both a satisfaction and a disappointment. The actual race has become considerably more extreme since I first rode it ten years ago and now there are a whole bunch of riders training specifically for that kind of riding. Given those two factors I was well pleased with how I performed. I really dug deep to fight it out with the specialists and was more than satisfied with the 8th place I was originally credited with. Then, following a mix up with a check point, I was relegated to 15th. When you put that much effort in the last thing you want is your result messed around with that way.

Picture: Platzer Philip

Straight after that I headed off for a 2-day photo shoot for Kenny’s new catalogue. Normally these sorts of things get shot at a moto-x track or in the middle of the desert, but Kenny had other ideas and decided to use Paris’ most famous monuments as the backdrop. I had a peek at some of the pictures and they looked pretty funky to me. Off-road motorcycling has certainly come a long way in terms of design and image!

And then it was back in the plane direction Lima for an excellent 4 days with the incredibly hospitable guys from KTM Peru. Unless you have been living in a cave for the last 6 months you will be aware that the 2012 Dakar’s last 4 stages will be run there – and to say the Peruvians are excited by the prospect would be something of an understatement! KTM Peru have put a 4 man team together for the event and I went along to their official presentation and then spent half a day with them going through the finer points of navigation, preparation etc. Another highlight of the trip was a ‘rideout’ with 50 or so customers. I have been lucky enough to ride in some great places but the area we rode in went straight into my personal Top 5. Roll on January 2012!