18.01.2026 · KOVE

KOVE closes Dakar 2026 with three stage wins

Three Rally2 class stage wins with the KOVE 450 Rally EX: the first Chinese brand to win Dakar stages.

Dakar 2026 ended with three stage wins for KOVE in the Rally2 class. All three were taken by factory rider Neels Theric aboard a KOVE 450 Rally EX.

3: Rally2 stage wins
2023: KOVE has raced the Dakar since
Rally2: Class

Exactly what was won

KOVE became the first Chinese brand to win Dakar stages. It is a stage milestone, not an overall classification one: they are two different things.

The KOVE team beside the 450 Rally during the Dakar

How this relates to the bike sold in Colombia

The 450 Rally EX is the race bike of KOVE's rally programme, and it is not the one sold in Colombia. The Colombian catalogue has the KOVE 450 Rally, the street bike of that same line. They share the development, not the record: the stage wins belong to the race bike.

We do not publish Dakar overall positions or the number of each stage won: the organiser does not expose a consultable Rally2 class table, and for those figures the only source is the manufacturer's own report. The links above lead to that report and to the independent story that covered the three wins.