N° 015 - TEAM KTM - TONI - TOGO

VERHOEVEN Frans NLD 07/11/1966

Vehicle

MODEL	MAKE
LC4 660 RALLYE	KTM

Frans Verhoeven: « The Dakar is a part of my life »

The Frans Verhoeven story could begin with “once upon a time” and finish with”and he won many Dakars”. The life of this Dutch plasterer changed in space of two weeks. He no longer could be considered an anonymous participant but rather a factory backed rider on the rise. A fairytale.

In 2005, he took part in his first Dakar and finished 16th overall, 3rd among amateurs and 1st in the 450 cc category. A remarkable performance that caught the attention of the top teams. Everything really changed for good in the summer of 2006. Frans received a telephone call from Heinz Kinigadner who offered him the job of being Cyril Despres’ ‘domestique’ for the Dakar. “I asked him three times if it was the true, because I was so happy. It changed my life.” In fact, Frans quickly put everything else to one side to become a full-time rider.

In 2007, he didn’t make it to the end of the rally. The fault being a heavy crash at nearly 130km/h. “I was leading the day, just behind Cyril Despres. I slide over a good size bump and I separated both shoulders. I was just 60kms from the end of the stage.” For his fourth Dakar, Frans will once again be at Cyril Despres’ service to, once again, conquer this rally. It’s his job but now the Dakar “is part of his life”.

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