WALKNER VICTORIOUS AT
DAKAR RALLY
A
t the halfway point of the
2018 Dakar Rally, the mo-
torcycle class was locked in a
remarkably close battle for the
lead. With less than 10 minutes
separating the top-six in the
class after more than 27 hours
of specials, it was still anyone's
race. But the second half of the
Dakar Rally brought the other
side of the coin, with wild and
unpredictable events unfolding
almost daily. Things got down-
right crazy on stage 10, which
proved to be the most pivotal
point of the rally. When the over-
all leader crashed out of the
race, and six of the top-10 riders
took a wrong turn in a riverbed
and lost nearly 40 minutes in the
process, it left Red Bull KTM's
Matthias Walkner out front free
and clear to take the overall
victory. Walkner capitalized on
his 40-minute advantage over
the field in the remaining three
stages (stage 12 was canceled)
and rode to a comfortable win.
"It's really, really amazing.
I was never thinking that I re-
ally could win," said a humble
Walkner. "The goal was to stay
on the podium, but it was so
close this year and day 10 was
a key day. There were five other
people who could have won it
but it looks like I was the lucky
one. I was surely a little bit lucky.
I think that in the Dakar you need
a bit of luck. Sometimes you
have it and sometimes you don't
have it. This time it was on my
side."
The unlucky ones included
Adrien Van Beveren, Joan Barre-
da and Ricky Brabec, among
others. American rider Ricky
Brabec of the Monster Energy
IN
THE
WIND
P44
It's a first for Matthias
Walkner but for KTM,
it's their 17th win at the
Dakar Rally.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
FLAVIEN
DUHAMEL/RED
BULL
CONTENT
POOL
