Dakar 2024 – What moved us

Throughout the pages that we have offered you in recent weeks, we have tried to reflect the reality of the Dakar. In the warmth of their home in France, those nostalgic for African epics or those who are pissed off diminish the grandeur of the Saudi version. Certainly, the atmosphere in Saudi Arabia is not as cheerful as it may have been in South America or North Africa. No alcohol in the canteen (if you look carefully, you can find some in the bivouac) and above all, too little contact with a population which, if it sees with a vaguely amused eye the arrival of external competitions on their territory , does not seem more passionate than that about the tribulations of its national hero, Yazeed Al-Rajhi. Hence the impression that the Dakar takes place in self-sufficiency, cut off from the outside world. The shortcut to the image of a competition that has become above ground, far removed from the initial noble intentions of its founder Thierry Sabine in 1978, is easy to take. However, we have witnessed several moving scenes which allow us to make the link with the great history of the rally-raid. The quest for surpassing oneself is more present than ever at the Dakar. Here are several examples.

Meoni, in the name of the father

Of the twenty-seven competitors