Nicola Dutto to become the first paraplegic to run the Dakar on a bike

Bruno Gomes

July 24, 2018

Italian rider Nicola Dutto will finally be able to accomplish his dream to enter the famous Dakar Rally, something he wanted to do for a long time, but because he is paraplegic, the rally organizers never accepted his entry.

Dutto was Spanish champion of Rally TT in 2004 and 2006, Italian Bajas champion in 2006 and 2009 and European Bajas champion in 2008 and 2009. He was in his prime and had the goal of racing on the infamous Baja 1000 Iron Man, in the United States.

But in a blink of an eye everything changed…

While racing on a special stage of the Italian Baja, he had a crashed and fell over a rock that was hidden under the sand, breaking the seventh vertebrae. Since then he’s bound to a wheelchair, but that wasn’t enough to make him quit riding motorcycles.

After the accident he did return to racing, but on buggy’s, until he crossed paths with American Doug Henry, also a paraplegic, riding motocross bikes and entering races.

That was a turning point in his life, and in 2012 Nicola Dutto returned to off-road racing on motorcycles, at Baja Aragón, in Spain, and with the help of his former rival Julián Villarrubia, he finished that race in 24th position, after problem with a fuse on his modified Suzuki RMX 450 stopped him of getting a much-deserved spot inside the Top 15.

Villarrubia decided to help Dutto to become the first paraplegic motorcycle rider to enter de Rally Dakar, and since then both have been working on making this dream come true.

In 2016 he spoke with Marc Coma, sporting director of the Dakar, but at the time, Coma told him he couldn’t enter the hardest off-road race in the World because he didn’t have the navigation experience needed to race the Dakar.

So, Nicola Dutto decided to enter the FIM Cross Country Rally Championship, and after good race finishes in the Merzouga Rally and at the Morocco Rally, racing a modified KTM bike, he decided to talk again with the Dakar organizers.

This time there were no excuses, and on the 18th of July he got the answer he wanted to hear: “you’ve been accepted on the Dakar Rally 2019!”.

So, next year, on the Dakar Rally to be held only in Peru, Nicola Dutto will become the first paraplegic motorcycle rider to enter this race, and now sets his new goal to become the first paraplegic motorcycle rider to finish the Dakar!