The Dakar Rally, much like the Isle of Man TT or the Macao GP, has always been a controversial race. Men and machines tested to the limit, for hours and hours on fast, desolate and unpredictable desert tracks.
"The Dakar" gives and "The Dakar" takes: glory, prestige and fame to the winner; scorn, heartbreak and often pain to whoever can't manage to finish.
But sometimes the price is very high, too high, and tragedy hits unexpected, even when every single racer knows deep down that there is no warranty he or she will finish the next stage.
And just when the Monster Energy Honda Rally Team and everybody at GIVI was enjoying the fantastic and historic performance of American Ricky Brabec, who is sitting at the top of the general standings with just three stages to go, we all had to stop and let a very hard reality sink.
Paulo "Speedy" Gonçalves, a legend of the desert, former Honda Rally Team member and 2013 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Champion is not with us anymore.
A terrible crash during stage 7 took him, and left everybody speechless and heartbroken. Stage 8, the following day, was canceled in his honor.
Yes, Brabec is only three days away from an historic result: he could be the first American to win the Dakar Rally and, aboard his Honda CRF450 Rally and with a little contribution from GIVI, he could finally break KTM's streak of 18 consecutive wins at the toughest off-road race in the world.
Maybe, hopefully, we will celebrate him in just a few days. But right now our heart is heavy and we can only hate the fact that "The Dakar" imposed yet another heavy and tragic tribute. Godspeed Paulo!
2020 Africa Eco Race
While the Dakar Rally is taking place in Saudi Arabia for the first time, another race is cutting through Northwestern Africa, following the traces and inspiration of the original Paris-Dakar Rally. It's the Africa Eco Race, now at it's 11th edition.
GIVI is proud sponsor of 2019's winner Alessandro Botturi, who once again lined up for the 2020 edition aboard his Yamaha. "Bottu" started the race in the best possible way, winning the first stage and backing it up with two more wins and a second place. Unfortunately he also had problems to his navigation instruments (and finished 6th) and got lost during the last stage, where he also saw his Yamaha almost fully swallowed by the sand dunes of Mauritania.
He finished 20th but he is still leading the general classification, although with less than 3 minutes margin over friend and arch-rival Pal Anders Ullevalseter on the factory KTM.
