Two Frenchmen Win Auto, Motorcycle Dakar Rally

Topics:  Dakar Rally, Stephane Peterhansel, Cyril Despres

Nico Colombant
Voice of America
Dakar
Janaury 21, 2007

Veteran Stephane Peterhansel won his ninth rally title, his third win in an automobile, a Mitsubishi.

He has won the motorcycle crown six times.  This year that title went to his countryman Cyril Despres.

Both winners took it easy during the last stage, a short beach trek around Lac Rose, a pink lake.

Despres, who won in 2005, got a break Friday when previous leader Marc Coma crashed out, after riding into a tree stump.

Two motorcyclists died during the dangerous two-week journey from Lisbon, through the Saharan desert dunes of north and west Africa, to Dakar.