Richard Sainct 1970-2004

RICHARD SAINCT 1970-2004

OFF-ROAD RACING legend Richard Sainct was killed while competing in the Pharaohs Rally in Egypt last September. The 34-year-old Frenchman won the Dakar Rally three times, in 1999, 2000 and 2003, and last year finished as runner-up to arch rival Nani Roma of Italy.

News of Sainct’s accident came as a blow to Cycle World's former Off-Road Editor Jimmy Lewis, who teamed with Sainct on BMWs in the 2000 Dakar Rally.

“From what I heard, he crashed at high speed, like any one of us could have,” Lewis said. “With my other teammate, John Deacon, also having been killed (in the Masters Rally in Syria in 2001), it hits pretty close to home.”

Another Dakar competitor who was deeply affected by Sainct’s untimely passing was KTM’s Scot Harden, who competed in the 2004 Dakar Rally.

“I got the terrible news the morning it happened and I’ve been thinking about it ever since,” Harden wrote in a heartfelt press release. “I’ve known and admired Richard Sainct since he first came to America to compete in the Nevada Rally; I think it was 1995. This past year, I had the good fortune to spend some time with Richard during the Dakar Rally. A fierce competitor and certainly one of the greatest rally racers of all time, Richard always took time to answer a question or give advice to the U.S. team no matter how simple or curious it might have seemed. I’ll never forget how he battled back from that spinning high-speed crash the first day in Morocco to push Nani Roma to his limit for the win. I saw the gash in his arm, how many stitches it took to close, how painful it was. It would have stopped anybody else, but not Richard.”

Sainct leaves behind a wife and two children.

Brian Catterson