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Dune and Dusted as Dakar Rally Set to Kick off in Saudi Arabia

This picture taken on December 29, 2022 shows an aerial view of a bivouac by the Red Sea coast near Saudi Arabia's Yanbu ahead of the 2023 Dakar Rally which this year will take place in Saudi Arabia from December 31, 2022 to January 15, 2023. (AFP)
This picture taken on December 29, 2022 shows an aerial view of a bivouac by the Red Sea coast near Saudi Arabia's Yanbu ahead of the 2023 Dakar Rally which this year will take place in Saudi Arabia from December 31, 2022 to January 15, 2023. (AFP)
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Dune and Dusted as Dakar Rally Set to Kick off in Saudi Arabia

This picture taken on December 29, 2022 shows an aerial view of a bivouac by the Red Sea coast near Saudi Arabia's Yanbu ahead of the 2023 Dakar Rally which this year will take place in Saudi Arabia from December 31, 2022 to January 15, 2023. (AFP)
This picture taken on December 29, 2022 shows an aerial view of a bivouac by the Red Sea coast near Saudi Arabia's Yanbu ahead of the 2023 Dakar Rally which this year will take place in Saudi Arabia from December 31, 2022 to January 15, 2023. (AFP)

When it comes to endurance races in motor sport, nothing can quite compete with the annual Dakar Rally which starts its 45th edition on the Saudi shores of the Red Sea on Saturday.

This year's event stretches 8,549 km over 15 days of racing, including a four-day excursion into the as yet unexplored desert dunes of the vast Rub' al-Khali, or Empty Quarter.

"'Be Afraid' seems to be the message of the route for the 2023 Dakar," said organizers when they revealed the course at the start of December.

The warning does not appear to have put anyone off: more than 800 riders, drivers and co-drivers will set off in an array of motorcycles, cars, quads, trucks and light vehicles when the race begins on Saturday.

Among them some well-known names, including nine-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb (BRX) who is relishing the prospect of competing in his sixth Dakar.

"It's 14 stages, it's very long, a proper endurance rally," he said. "We need to find the right pace to get to the finish with as few mistakes as possible."

The Frenchman, who has just won the 2022 edition of the Extreme E, has a tough battle in front of him if he is to improve on his three podium finishes and chalk up that first win.

Notably, he will need to unseat defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota), a quadruple winner of the event, but he will also be up against another WRC legend Carlos Sainz (Mini) as well as the Dakar great Stephane Peterhansel (Audi) who has won the event 14 times -- eight in a car and six on a bike.

On the motorcycle side, defending champion Sam Sunderland (GasGas) will face a stiff challenge from the likes of Daniel Sanders (GasGas), Pablo Quintanilla (Honda), Matthias Walkner (KTM) and Adrien Van Beveren (Honda).

The rally ends on January 15 on the Kingdom's eastern sea border.

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Pope Francis Was a Card-Carrying Football Fan and Promoter of Values in Sports

Francis met his fellow Argentine Maradona twice as pope. (AFP via Getty Images)
Francis met his fellow Argentine Maradona twice as pope. (AFP via Getty Images)
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Pope Francis Was a Card-Carrying Football Fan and Promoter of Values in Sports

Francis met his fellow Argentine Maradona twice as pope. (AFP via Getty Images)
Francis met his fellow Argentine Maradona twice as pope. (AFP via Getty Images)

From meetings with Diego Maradona to the passion for his beloved Buenos Aires club, San Lorenzo, Pope Francis was an avid football fan. And a promoter of sports in general.

Francis died Monday at 88 and the football and sports world immediately paid homage.

All sports events scheduled for Monday in Italy were postponed to mourn Francis, including four top-flight football matches. A minute of silence will be observed before all sports events this week, the Italian Olympic Committee said.

“Italian football joins in the mourning of millions of people following the death of Pope Francis. He was a great example of Christian caring and dignity in the face of suffering and he was always attentive to the sports world and particularly football, of which he was a fan,” said Italian football federation president Gabriele Gravina. “He will always remain in the hearts of the faithful and lovers of football.”

Francis’ passion for football became known almost immediately after he was elected pope in 2013 when San Lorenzo tweeted a photo of him holding up the club’s crest. He was even a card-carrying member of the club, with San Lorenzo ID No. 88,235.

San Lorenzo is nicknamed “the Saints.”

In Italy, there were also suggestions that Francis supported Juventus since his family came from the Piedmont region where the Turin club is based. Francis' father, Mario Bergoglio, was a basketball player.

San Lorenzo, one of the oldest teams in the Argentine Football Association, performed well after Francis was elected as the 266th pope in March 2013. The team won a national title in 2013 and then claimed the South American Copa Libertadores for the first time a year later. Club officials traveled twice to the Vatican carrying trophies to thank Francis for his support.

A planned new San Lorenzo stadium is to be named for Francis.

During a meeting with the Argentina and Italy national teams shortly after he was elected, Francis noted the influence of athletes, especially on youth, and told the players to remember that “for better or worse” they are role models. “Dear players, you are very popular. People follow you, and not just on the field but also off it,” he said. “That’s a social responsibility.”

Francis met his fellow Argentine Maradona twice as pope. There was a special audience in connection with a charity football match in 2014 when Maradona presented the pontiff with a football jersey, emblazoned with the name “Francisco” — Spanish for Francis — and Maradona’s No. 10.

“I think we all now realize he’s a (star),” Maradona said after another meeting in 2015. “I’m Francis’ top fan.”

When Maradona died in 2020, Francis remembered the football great in his prayers.

Francis often hailed sports as a way to promote solidarity and inclusion, especially for young people.

During a global conference on faith and sport in 2016, Francis implored leaders to do a better job of keeping corruption off the playing field and said sports must be protected from manipulations and commercial abuse.

“Francis was a special pope, able to illuminate in his time like only the greatest can,” Gianluigi Buffon, the former captain of Italy’s national football team who met the pope on multiple occasions, said on Instagram. “He showed us the way with great courage and moved our souls. I will carry his example forever in my heart.”