Cyril Despres Yamaha
Aboard his new Yamaha motorcycle, Cyril Despres wins the Rally dos Sertoes.
In the wake of a few races that did not deliver the expected results, Frenchman Cyril Despres has finally earned his first victory on the Yamaha YZ450F Rally. After winning his fifth Dakar at the beginning of the year, Despres left KTM in a surprise move. He signed a new contract with the Japanese manufacturer. But he had to wait to get back on the South American territory to savour the joy of victory once again.
Cyril Despres has spent years alongside KTM. He has won numerous races on board his motorcycles. He and his colleague Cedric Gracia have been the sponsors of the KTM Freeride 350, also shooting a promotional video that perhaps costed them a fine. Then he decided to change partners, heading to the Japanese house.
Despres has won yesterday the fourth stage of the Rally dos Sertoes. An event that takes place in Brazil, the Uruaçu-Porangatu of 132 km, with 24 seconds over historic rival and former team-mate Marc Coma. He has taken the second place in the overall standings behind the Spaniard.
The Rally dos Sertoes covers a total of 4,115 kilometers and will continue with six more stages before ending in Goiania on the 3rd of August. An understandably beaming Cyril Despres said:“Today we were rewarded for the months of hard work the team have put in with a first stage victory here in Brazil on the Rally dos Sertoes.
It’s a great boost for all of us, not only for those of us present on the race. Also for everybody at Yamaha who believed in the project and who have been so solidly behind us. Obviously it isn’t a Dakar stage victory, let alone an outright Dakar victory, but it is an important milestone on the road to that ultimate ambition and I must admit today’s result has a special flavour to it.
Not that we have much time to saviour it! Tomorrow is the first leg of a particularly tough 900 kilometres marathon stage and we have a lot of work to do, both on man and machine, to make sure we are in good shape for the challenge.