Ecstacy and Agony

There’re plenty of reasons why the Dakar Rally is widely acknowledged as the toughest race on the planet. Imagine spending two weeks screaming through the most inhospitable terrain imaginable, operating on an average three-to-four hours’ sleep a night, and trying to read directions from a scrolling sheet of paper attached to your bars, against the most talented riders in the world. The tax that the Dakar takes on a competitor’s mental, physical and emotional state is on a whole different level from any other sport.

For 2022, the notorious race returned to the vast landscapes of desert and rock in Saudi Arabia, and it was as brutal as ever. Favourites crumbled, world firsts were made and only a camel’s hair-width of time separated the leaders after a total of 3,900km of racing at breakneck pace through the infinite dunes.

There was no shortage of drama throughout the two-week race, so here are our 10 key moments and issues that shaped the 2022 Dakar Rally.

CHUCKY CLAIMS FIRST BLOOD

GASGAS Factory Racing’s Daniel “Chucky” Sanders began the 2022 instalment of the brutal two-week event with a hiss and a roar. After popping his Dakar cherry last year, Chucky was keen to prove his worth and showed his hand