Racer X joins Dakar Rally legends Kevin and Luciano Benavides on an adventure ride across Argentina

WORDS & PHOTOS: SIMON CUDBY

Ever since it was founded in 1978, the Dakar Rally has been considered the toughest, most grueling off-road race in the world. No matter where it’s held—the African continent, South America, Saudi Arabia—the race is notoriously difficult and dangerous. To survive, let alone succeed, in this weeks-long race takes a special kind of motorcycle rider. 

Dakar racers are a very exclusive club in the world of dirt bikes, and two of the best right now happen to be brothers: 2021 Dakar winner Kevin Benavides of the Red Bull KTM factory team and his younger brother Luciano, who rides for the Rockstar Husqvarna factory rally team. Together they sharpened their off-road teeth in the rugged badlands of their native Argentina, where the terrain is as dynamic as it is beautiful. So when I was invited to go adventure riding with the Benavides brothers around their old stomping grounds, I wasn’t sure I was up to the challenge. But with these two world-class rally riders as our guides, we had nothing to worry about.