He absolutely wanted to reach the finish. Above all, do not be forced to retire as in 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2021. Because the driver from Allier had signed up for his last Dakar. “I had the little demon in me telling me to go back to coal, but I stayed reasonable” explains Xavier de Soultrait at Jedahh, the end of this 44th edition of the event.
On a motorbike, it’s Koh Lanta every day … Xavier de Soultrait, Bourbonnais rider
After a serious fall last year, the Moulinois wanted to redo a Dakar. “I almost died or remained quadriplegic, the doctors reminded me of it at the start, it calmed me down”. While he was aiming for the top 10, he therefore had to temper his enthusiasm and revise his ambitions downwards. Fifteenth place overall is anecdotal, because the essential is elsewhere.
When Xavier de Soultrait looks in the rear view mirror, he will remember those great moments on the Dakar. “My stage victory, being at the top of the general standings, are memories, encounters, and then an emotional lift”. A passion that will have animated him during all these years. And that he now hopes to satisfy differently.
– Frederic Le Floch
Xavier de Soultrait allows himself a few weeks to decide what his future will be like. “I will definitely come back to the Dakar to do a tenth on a motorcycle when I have my midlife crisis” jokes the Bourbonnais. More seriously, he does not plan to cut with his passion, the one that has animated him for more than ten years at the highest level.
_“I will come back in a buggy, in a car as a driver or co-driver, in the organization or for France Television, I don’t know yet, but I will explore the track that excites me the most”_. In the meantime, the biker from Allier will devote himself to his two granddaughters and his wife, “I have a great family, it’s not just the Dakar in life”. But it is a page of his that has just turned in the dunes of Saudi Arabia.