Photo below: Flavien Duhamel/Red Bull Content Pool
A consistent Walkner stays cool in
the heat to win the 2018 Dakar.
F
ollowing Toby Price in 2016 and Sam
Sunderland in 2017, theres another new
Bike winner of the Dakar Rally. Red Bull
KTM Factory Team rider Matthias Walkner
becomes the first Austrian to win the
Dakar, fittingly astride an Austrian-built
KTM machine. Having been badly injured
in 2016 and bounced back to finish
second in 2017, it’s a deserved victory for
the Austrian, who was near-faultless in his navigation
and managed his lead masterfully. The 31-year-old
has been a consistent presence towards the front
of the pack throughout the race and in a final stage
won by Kevin Benavides, Walkner brought his KTM
home in eighth to start the party. Walkner’s victory
also gives KTM a staggering 17th Dakar win in a row.
“It’s really, really amazing. I was never thinking that
I really could win. The goal was to stay on the
podium, but it was so close this year and day 10 was
a key day,” Walkner commented as he celebrated
“Maybe luck was on my side this time, but it’s really
a dream come true. “It was a really crazy Dakar.
The riding level was so high and there were five
other people who could have won it, but it looks
like I was the lucky one. I think that on the Dakar
you need a bit of luck, but sometimes you have