06 January 2003 - 14:58 Nineteen days of sport and adventure Dakar 2003 - presentation

The 25th edition of the Paris-Dakar Rally, the 2003 event running under the title of Telefonica-Dakar, will get underway on the 1st of January. The famous event, created by Thierry Sabine, will begin in Marseilles and end in Egypt after having passed through Spain, Tunisia and Libya. The winner will be announced on January 19 in Sharm-el-Sheikh (Egypt), on the edge of the Red Sea.

The start of the 2003 Telefуnica -Dakar will take place at the Parc Chanot in Marseille when after two days of scrutineering, on Monday 30th and Tuesday 31st December 2002, the competitors of the event will take part in a special show before heading to Spain. There the first three special stages will take place, before the cars bikes and trucks board for Africa.

There are seventeen stages in all, three in Europe, three in Tunisia, five in Libya and six in Egypt. The first special stage in Tunisia is 25 kilometres in length followed by another 280 competitive kilometres before they head to Libya for another five stages and then to Egypt for the final run home.

Throughout the 19 days of competition, there is one day of rest, on January the 13th at Siwa.

raid-live.com, 18/12/02