The Gard motorcycle won a great victory on the Dakar. A.S.O./Fotop – D.Bairros
Six years after its last success, the French motorcycle won the third stage of the Dakar 2025 with the Spanish rider Lorenzo Santolino.
In the land of Dakar, we find the red colossus Honda, the Austrian ogre KTM and the Indian giant Hero. Founded in 1998, the Gard brand Sherco defends the colours of France alone among the motorcycle manufacturers. It entered three machines in this 2025 edition. One of them, that of the defending champion Rally2 Harith Noah, left the race in the prologue after a fall.
From then on, hopes rested on the Portuguese Rui Gonçalves and the Spaniard Lorenzo Santolino. Neither had ever won a stage, but there is a first for everything. Surprising his opponents, “Santo” dominated the special stage between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, this Tuesday.
At the end of the suspense, the rider from Salamanca took the first victory of his career in the race, in which he is participating for the seventh time. A success that has brought joy to the factory in Nîmes, 5,400 kilometres away, and to its founder Marc Teissier.
“We often get bad news. Now, we'll take some good news!”
“When I heard it, I had a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes, he reacted, from the Al Henakiyah bivouac. Right now, the off-road world is sick because of the economic problems KTM is facing. We're on edge, with suppliers and dealers at risk of closing, the second-hand market no longer exists… We often get bad news. Now, we'll take some good news!”
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000French riders win various stages of the Dakar every year. Brand victories are, however, rarer. This is Sherco's sixth, fifteen years after the first one won by the iconic David Casteu in 2010.
Alain Duclos and Joan Pedrero then won in 2014, before the Spaniard doubled the lead in 2017. The last victory was on January 16, 2019, won by Gardois Michaël Metge in Pisco (Peru).
If we don't have any mechanical problems, for me, his position is between fourth and sixth
What's next for the Dakar for the French firm? “For me, there are two philosophies for the Dakar. I tend to say: go to the end of the first week, and then we'll see what happens”, postulates Marc Teissier.
“Young crossmen riders have arrived in recent years, the race has become a sprint, and as a result, many competitors do not go all the way. So statistically, if you take care of your bike, you can get a good result. Santo is a long-distance rider, he is a safe bet. If we do not have any mechanical problems, for me, his position is between fourth and sixth.”
Sixth is precisely the best result of a Sherco rider, obtained by Santolino himself in 2021. The Spaniard moved up to tenth place in the general classification at the end of the third stage, 42 minutes behind the leader Daniel Sanders. But the race will be long until the finish, placed in Shubaytah on January 17. 5,193 kilometers still separate the competitors from the final arch.