Red Bull KTM factory rider Cyril Despres on Sunday rode into Lima in triumph to seal his fourth career Dakar title and to present KTM with its eleventh consecutive Dakar win.

KTM factory rider Cyril Despres on Saturday extended his overall lead in the 2012 Dakar finishing second in the penultimate stage just 47 seconds behind Portugal’s Helder Rodrigues.

But it was all drama for his teammate Marc Coma who had to slow down in the early part of the stage due, he said, to mechanical problems. He then made a costly navigational error in the dunes of southern coastal Peru and sacrificed about 13 minutes.

The two KTM riders are far in front of the rest of the field in the overall standings so Cyril Despres goes into the final stage as a prospective winner of the 2012 edition when they head for the finish line in Lima tomorrow. While it is never over until it is over, a change in the final standings will require a dramatic error by Despres that will reverse the current situation and prevent him from taking his fourth Dakar title.

A group of friends mountain biking, dirt jumping, surfing, skating, skiing and snowboarding whilst on a trip to chile, all superbly shot with an amazing Red Camera, some other high end film equipment and nicely edited together and published by guilhemmachenaud.com.

Hat tip Yann.

When riders set out at Mar Del Plata on the Atlantic coast of Argentina on January 1 there were 178 in the start list of Dakar 2012. Now in Copiapo, Chile for the one rest day of the 2012 rally after nearly 4500 km the 33^rd edition of the world toughest motor sports event it has again evolved into the tale of two riders: Cyril Despres and Marc Coma of the KTM factory team.

French rider Despres is in the overall lead with a cushion of almost eight minutes on teammate Marc Coma of Spain. But that is only half of the story. Third placed Helder Rodrigues of Portugal is almost 50 minutes behind Despres and that will be very difficult to overcome. Both KTM riders are attempting to win their third Dakar title and KTM, the Austrian sports bike specialist is looking at a potential eleventh consecutive title. KTM’s riders have one every edition since 2001, except in 2008 when the rally was cancelled on the eve of departure from Lisbon following security threats in North Africa. KTM also overcame a surprise change of engine size imposed by the rally organizers that reduced allowable engine size down to 450 cc. This was a move that was largely viewed as an effort to break the company’s stranglehold on the bike category.

M.Maragni photos

Cyril Despres’s 28th stage victory on the Dakar has allowed him to increase his lead over Marc Coma in the general standings. The competition is struggling to keep up with the two champions.

As the saying goes, two’s a company, three’s a crowd, and the Dakar seems to prefer duos. Between Cyril Despres and Marc Coma, the battles are always intense. Their virtuosity behind the handlebars is starting to significantly distance them from their challengers. The bad weather conditions that forced the organisers to shorten the day’s special also prevented Despres from making a genuine breakaway in the dunes near Fiambala. However, he was able to add 1’41” to his lead over Coma, by triumphing after 185 kilometres of tracks and river beds which he mostly tackled just behind his rival and, nonetheless, team-mate. In the general standings, the distance of 9’50” at which the title holder finds himself is not an insurmountable obstacle, bearing in mind that Coma is capable of resounding feats. Behind the duo, the gap is imposing, however, and is growing every day by approximately ten minutes.

Overall Results after Stage Five (Stage Six canceled because of bad weather)

1, Cyril Despres, France, KTM 14 hours 19 minutes

2, Marc Coma, Spain, KTM at 9 minutes 51 seconds

3, Helder Rodrigues, Portugal, Yamaha at 247:56

Photos by M.Maragni

Nico Leocata is the subject of this latest Vurb Platinum, with vurbmoto heading to his home country of Argentina to see exactly what it’s like growing up as a motocross rider in South America. Filmed over two weeks, this is more of a lifestyle Platinum with some epic locations and riding thrown in. Enjoy.

Siiiiiick. The video thumbnail doesn’t really do it justice. Watched it 3 times. YES. Snowboard.

Mar Del Plata, Argentina, January 1 2012: New Year’s Day 2012 and KTM’s Dakar riders opened their bid for the eleventh consecutive Dakar Rally victory for the Austrian sports motorcycle specialists.

Maragni M photos.

Journey Into The Great Bear Rainforest.

Excellent filming, good angles, suitable song, tight edit, rad lines, dope style and dramatic skating. Great trailer.

I didn’t take all that many photos of girls this year at EICMA because A. I was ridiculously hungover and was finding it hard enough to focus on the bikes anyway, and B. I had the opposite of beer goggles on and most the girls looked as rough as I felt. Anyway, there were a few exceptions when the haze occasional departed, so here you go.

A movie based on travels of Antti Autti​ and friends.

After ten years of traveling around the world in contest-circuit, Finnish snowboarding legend Antti Autti decided to do things in his own way – he wanted to hit the natural terrain. He spent a year searching for the best spots and the deepest powder. Documenting these explorations
gave birth to ANTIOUT.

Quiksilver’s Kelly Slater clinched an historic and unprecedented 11th ASP World Title today in the cold and challenging waters of San Francisco’s Ocean Beach. Slater, 39, is the first surfer to achieve 11 ASP World Titles, an accomplishment spanning two decades of an astounding career during which he has dominated competitive surfing as both the youngest and oldest ASP World Champion.