Desert Runner

When things get hot and fast, the Spanish Enduro rally rider Marc Coma gets really hot and fast. The latest evidence: his victory in the Dakar Rally.

Success: for Marc Coma there must be some kind of mysterious desert spring that, once it’s been tapped, just keeps bubbling and bubbling. But until 2004 the Spaniard hadn’t yet tapped the spring. Up to that point, Coma was an outstanding Enduro competitor but didn’t yet stand out: he was hardly known outside Spain. By 2004 he was getting closer to the right place to drill for water – the desert – and placed second the Tunisia Rally and second in the Morocco Rally. In early 2005 he finally made his breakthrough, winning a sensational second place in the Dakar Rally. That was followed by four victories and a second place in Dubai, which ensured Coma’s world championship title in the Enduro Rally. The almost inevitable continuation of his series of victories and at the same time the greatest victory of all so far came in January 2006: first place in the Dakar Rally.

The Dakar Collector

Lots of little boys dream of someday winning the world’s toughest rally, but in the case of Marc Coma there was more to it than that: even as a boy he was already collecting picture cards of Dakar. Under the supervision of his father (a motocross driver who finished fifth in the Spanish championship) and his uncle, Coma was riding his bike off road at the age of eight. Until he turned 18, he concentrated on motocross, but then he switched to Enduro. And it was the right decision: he was Spanish Junior Champion in 1995, World Champion in the under-23 category in 1998, third in the Spanish championship in 2000, and second in 2001. It was time for him to turn to the big rallies.

Up and Over the Dunes

In 2002 Coma tried the Dakar Rally for the first time, riding a bike that the Spanish rally veteran Carlos Sotelo had made himself. Coma was good enough to finish sixth in one of the stages and caught the eye of the big teams. By the next Dakar, Coma was on the KTM factory team. He mounted the rostrum after four stages and, despite a broken wrist, finished 11th overall. In 2004 he gained first-hand experience with the bitter side of Dakar when, in a highly unusual crash, his machine landed on him. Coma lost consciousness but was lucky enough to escape serious injury. A scar on his head remains to remind him of his involuntary takeoff.

Consistency and Concentration

Coma’s continuing series of victories points to an unusually strong point in the Spaniard’s character: his consistency. He won Dakar without finishing first in even a single stage. But he was second eight times and never finished worse that sixth. That gave him a lead of 1:13 hours on his closest rival, Cyril Despres (FRA), who had won the previous year. Another of Coma’s strengths is his ability to focus with extreme intensity over long periods of time. That helps the Spaniard avoid making mistakes or getting lost. But even while preparing for a race, he knows how to remain focus on the most important things. “You have to prepare for Dakar all year,” he says. “We’re a lot like track and field athletes: they go to the Olympics only every four years but spend three years preparing for them. We’re in a similar situation but, fortunately, we get to do the Dakar every year.”