Better to lead or follow? Jerome Martiny’s Team Dumontier Racing Husqvarna, left, heads into the Empty Quarter during Stage 11. (A.S.O./Charly Lopez/)

Of course Dakar was invented by a motorcycle racer.

If Dakar founder Thierry Sabine had been competing on four wheels, he would’ve had a navigator. This person might have kept him sane as he was dying of thirst, lost in the Libyan desert in 1977 during the Abidjan-Nice Rally. But stranded alone among the towering dunes for three days and two nights, Sabine was “inspired” to create the original Paris-Dakar rally, run the following year in 1978.

Although the off-road race hasn’t run within 3,700 miles of the West African capital since 2007, it’s fitting the Dakar name stuck. Finishing there meant traveling 12,000 kilometers through brutal Saharan desert in 10 African countries. Paris was just an ironic place to start the journey through hell.

Originally crossing through six countries and about 3,000 kilometers of unforgiving desert terrain, today it runs about 5,000 kilometers through just one country: Saudi Arabia. In 2008, the Dakar was canceled due to political instability in Africa, and held instead in South America the following year. Eleven years of annual Dakar rally raids in South America followed. This year’s Dakar marks the fourth year in the Saudi Arabian peninsula, and by all accounts the race has flourished.

This western-centric concept of adventure has occasionally had an uneasy coexistence with its environs. Motorsports is notoriously apolitical, especially when money is concerned. But this year, the Russian and Belarussian teams of Kamaz and MAZ stayed home, due to FIA’s condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Perhaps they’ll eventually condemn the state-sanctioned murder of journalists and dissidents who criticize the Saudi government.

This year’s Dakar took place over 17 days, from December 31–January 15. Several Americans were in contention, including Ricky Brabec, Mason Klein, and Skyler Howes. But in the end, Skyler “Mr. Mustache” Howes was the lone American on the podium, no mean feat considering he’s only the fifth American to reach a podium at all. Argentinian Kevin Benavides took first, with Australian Toby Price in second.

Let’s dispense with the words and let the incredible photography do the storytelling.

Adrien Van Beveren’s Monster Energy Honda cuts a fine, sandy line through Stage 5, in Hail, Saudi Arabia. (A.S.O./ Charly Lopez/)

Romain Dumontier, Team Dumontier Racing, gives himself and his Husqvarna a breather during private testing before the Prologue and Stage 1. (A.S.O./ Florent Gooden/)

The Dakar 2023 podium finishers, from headshots taken before they’d raced a single mile. Kevin Benavides (ARG), Toby Price (AUS), and Skyler “Mustache Man” Howes (USA). (A.S.O./)

Before the chaos begins, bureaucracy and administrative order reigns inside the bivouac, Sea Camp near Yanbu, Saudi Arabia. (A.S.O./ Gigi Soldano/)

When everything was possible: Ottavio Missoni salutes the waves on the first (and short) Prologue stage near Yanbu. (A.S.O./ Florent Gooden/)

Kirsten Landman, ASP Rope Access International Team, loads her roadbook in anticipation of starting Stage 1. (A.S.O./ Julien Delfosse/)

The No. 1 plate chasing title number three: 2017 and 2022 Dakar winner Sam Sunderland prepares his roadbook before Stage 1. He crashed and was airlifted to a hospital after just 52 kilometers. (A.S.O./ Julien Delfosse/)

Jan Brabec, Stojrent Racing KTM, skips stones during Stage 2, between Sea Camp and Al-’Ula, Saudi Arabia. (A.S.O./ Charly Lopez/)

Welcome to impossible: Stage 3 between Al-‘Ula and Hail. (A.S.O./ Eric Vargiolu/)

Token four-wheel picture: 1984 Porsche 911 Classic Dakar competitor. Note the “Bothmans” sponsorship, in place of the original Rothmans cigarette sponsor. (A.S.O./ Aurélien Vialatte/)

“Whoops” doesn’t begin to describe it. Lorenzo Maria Fanottoli, Tecnosport KTM, hits the dirt in Stage 4, near Hail. (A.S.O./ Horacio Cabilla/)

Luciano Benavides, Husqvarna Factory Team, fits right into the landscape. Stage 4, near Hail. (A.S.O./ Florent Gooden/)

Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo, Monster Energy Honda Team, surfs the sand ridge, Stage 6 between Hail and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (A.S.O./ Charly Lopez/)

Bring it: Jaroslav Valtr, Rene Kilian, and Tomas Sikola, Tatra Buggyra ZM Racing, competing in the Trucks category, Stage 6, near Hail. (A.S.O./ Florent Gooden/)

Next man (and motorcycle) up: Spares lined up before Stage 7, near Al Duwadimi, Saudi Arabia. (A.S.O./ Eric Vargiolu/)

Blaze your own trail, but stay close: Luciano Benavides, Toby Price, and Skyler Howes navigate Stage 8, between Al Duwadimi and Riyadh. (A.S.O./Charly Lopez/)

Ross Branch, Hero Motoports Team Rally, loads his roadbook before Stage 8. He won, making up for having run out of fuel the previous two stages. (A.S.O./ Charly Lopez/)

It rains here? Sergio Vaquero, KTM Namura Bikes, gets in the pool during Stage 9, between Riyadh and Haradh, Saudi Arabia. (A.S.O./ Charly Lopez/)

James Pearson, American Rally Originals KTM, fights the good fight in the mud in Stage 9. (A.S.O./ Charly Lopez/)

Dark horse candidate Mason Klein, BAS World KTM Racing Team, sends up a rooster tail made of sand in Stage 10, between Haradh and Shaybah, Saudi Arabia. (A.S.O./ Eric Vargiolu/)

Skyler Howes, Husqvarna Factory Racing Team, heads to the Empty Quarter during Stage 11. (A.S.O./ Charly Lopez/)

Eufrasio Anghileri, RS Moto Racing, takes stock of his Honda (and whatever went wrong) during Stage 11, between Shaybah and the Empty Quarter. His father, Antonio, competed on a Gilera in the ’90s. (A.S.O./ Charly Lopez/)

Eventual winner Kevin Benavides, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team, finds rare air in the dunes of Stage 13, between Shaybah and Al-Hofuf, Saudi Arabia. (A.S.O./ Horacio Cabilla/)

The romance of victory: Kevin Benavides, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, gives his winning KTM a smooch after Stage 14, Dammam, Saudi Arabia. (A.S.O./ Charly Lopez/)

Ottavio Missoni, privateer, takes stock of his mud-bound Honda during the final Stage 14. But he finished. Dream accomplished. (A.S.O./ Charly Lopez/)

Welcome to the smoking section: Kevin Benavides does a victory burnout at the awards ceremony. Have a cigar, champ. (A.S.O./ Aurélien Vialatte/)

Source: MotorCyclistOnline.com