26^th Paris-Dakar Rally

17 stages:
     • Europe: 3 stages
     • Morocco: 4 stages
     • Mauritania: 6 stages
     • Mali: 2 stages
     • Burkina Faso: 1 stage
     • Senegal: 1 stage


Total: 11 163,5 km
     • 5 428,5 km of specials
     • 5 735 km of liaisons

In Africa:
     • 9 339 km, of which 5 393 are specials
     • 8 798 km of parallel route for the back-up vehicles
     • 1 stage partially the same for competitors and assistance (Tan-Tan > Atar)
     • 2 Marathon stages: Atar > Tidjikja and Ayoûn El Atroûs > Tidjikja
     • 2 stages without GPS: Nema > Mopti et Nouakchott > Dakar
     • the longest stage: Tan-Tan > Atar (1 055 km)
     • the shortest stage: Dakar > Dakar (106 km)
     • the longest special: Tidjikja > Nema (736 km)
     • the shortest special: Dakar > Dakar (27 km)

Stage 1 -  1 January  2004 - REGION D'AUVERGNE > NARBONNE
Special 1 km	Liaison 395 km	Total  396 km

Stage 2 -  2 January  2004 - NARBONNE > CASTELLÓN
Liaison 6 km	Special 25 km	Liaison 532 km	Total  563 km

After a restful night, the competitors will race the only special in France, around Narbonne. The 25 kilometre course will finish next to the Abbaye de Fontfroide.
They will then take a liaison to the Iberian peninsula and Castellon, 60 kilometres from Valencia on the east coast of Spain. The motorbikes will possibly be picked up during the course of the liaison.

Stage 3 -  3 January  2004 - CASTELLÓN > TANGER
Liaison 4 km	Special 9 km	Liaison 852 km	Total  865 km

One last night in a hotel on European soil and the competitors will race a short special near the town, with the finishing line located on the beach. They will then undertake a liaison of more than 800 km to reach Algeciras where they will embark for Tangier. Motorbikes may be loaded for the duration of the liaison. After a short crossing and
a 13 km liaison, the competitors will reach their first African bivouac in the evening.

Stage 4 -  4 January  2004 - TANGER > ER RACHIDIA
Liaison 233 km	Special 75 km	Liaison 444 km	Total  752 km

Things will get pretty serious during this first African stage. After 233 kilometres of very fast liaison, the competitors will take a very speedy track, and a sandy one, drawn in the Mamoora forest near the town of Rabat. This will be a good warming-up with no notable difficulty. There then follow 444 kilometres of liaison, whith a few hilly sectors.

Piste assistance : 750 km

Stage 5 -  5 January  2004 - ER RACHIDIA > OUARZAZATE
Liaison 56 km	Special 337 km	Liaison 182 km	Total  575 km

This stage brings together nearly all of the difficulties which the competitors will face. The start of the special is very fast and the tracks sinuous, rocky. Then, competitors will be lead to the highlight of this first part of the rally, the Erg Chebbib, your first contact with the sand. The second part of the speciale will propose sandy but fast tracks.

Piste assistance : 310 km

Stage 6 -  6 January  2004 - OUARZAZATE > TAN-TAN
Liaison 176 km	Special 351 km	Liaison 276 km	Total  803 km

Once again Morocco promises a fulfilling race, with specials that require exceptional driving along unforgiving tracks where the slightest error may be decisive. This stage is as rocky as full of traps. The pace will be very high from the start, but the drivers will soon be obliged to ease up to avoid the cairns and many bumps that litter the route. This is where it will be important to know how to drive fast and yet be constantly alert so as to reach the finish in one piece.

Piste assistance : 740 km

Stage 7 -  7 January  2004 - TAN-TAN > ATAR
Liaison 345 km	Special 701 km	Liaison 9 km	Total  1055 km

This will be a very long transition stage, swiftly taking the rally from Morocco to Mauritania. The competitors will leave at night for the 345 kilometre link to the border. The start of the special will be given on the Mauritanian side. After a very fast first part, this special will tackle the start of the dune fields, with the demanding and scary crossing of the Erg Oumaghawaba at the end of the stage. This is the only way to get to Atar, where the checkpoint will stay open all night to receive competitors.

Stage 8 -  8 January  2004 - ATAR > TIDJIKJA
Liaison 34 km	Special 355 km	Liaison 4 km	Total  393 km

After the start in the bed of the Wadi Toungad, the competitors will discover a track that has never been taken up until now, starting at Far Aoun. To win this stage, or to complete it in time, technique, expert driving and careful navigation between the hidden but breathtaking passes and many unavoidable ergs, will be three highly recommended qualities.

Stage 9 -  9 January  2004 - TIDJIKJA > NEMA
Liaison 3 km	Special 736 km	Total  739 km

A legendary stage! This part of the course has witnessed some of the race’s most historic moments. It is also the longest and the hardest stage in the 2004 race. After a fast start through soft sand until Tichit, things get tougher as we reach the Well of Aratoue, the Rocher des Eléphants and the Enji pass where nearly all of the competitors were brought to a halt by a sandstorm 1985. But the magnificent landscapes make it easier to forget the difficulties of certain sections.

Stage 10 -  10 January  2004 - NEMA > MOPTI
Liaison 4 km	Special 345 km	Liaison 561 km	Total  910 km

A short special followed by a very long link to get to Mopti, on the threshold of the Dogon Country. From the start in Nema until the border, the track is very driveable, though fast and punctuated by holes digged by recent floods. But things start to get hairy after Nara in a tangled web of tracks; without a GPS -forbidden in this stage-, the road to Sokolo will be hard to find.

Stage 11 -  11 January  2004 - MOPTI > BOBO-DIOULASSO
Liaison 63 km	Special 448 km	Liaison 236 km	Total  747 km

This will be one of the toughest stages in this year’s rally. The special will take an old forgotten track, gullied by the rains, which winds its way up the slopes of the Bandiagarra cliff. After having climbed the cliff, the competitors will then descend towards Bobo-Dioulasso, going along the Dogon country and its legendary villages. Good driving and navigation will again be needed as the track gets ever faster as the kilometres rush by.

Stage 12 -  13 January  2004 - BOBO-DIOULASSO > BAMAKO
Liaison 85 km	Special 213 km	Liaison 368 km	Total  666 km

After the bush, the laterite ribbon of the track unreels through the tropical forest. The rest day in Bobo-Dioulasso will allow both men and machines to recharge their batteries before smoothly starting off again along 213 kilometres of track that would be worthy of the World Rally Championships. The going will be fast, very fast even, for the top drivers. But competitors will have to watch out for the handful of large obstacles which litter the special as it wends its way through the luxuriant Banfora forest.

Stage 13 -  14 January  2004 - BAMAKO > AYOÛN EL ALTROÛS
Liaison 230 km	Special 478 km	Liaison 26 km	Total  734 km

Leaving the capital of Mali by the north, the competitors will find themselves back in the Sahel and on their way to Mauritania. After 200 km of lovely tarmac road comes an entirely new special. This itinerary should please the drivers; it is a fast special along a series of beautiful sandy tracks, but with many changes of direction. Navigation will make all the difference in this stage. At the time when we were making the reccees the wadis were in full flood, obliging us to make a large number of detours.

Stage 14 -  15 January  2004 - AYOÛN EL ALTROÛS > TIDJIKJA
Special 547 km	Liaison 4 km	Total  551 km

The most beautiful sand stage of this rally! The sandy track runs into some small dunes in the first few kilometres. These small dunes become denser as the course heads northwards. The highlight of the day will be the crossing of the gigantic dunes which fall against the length of the 200-metre high Taskast cliff. This is the only way to climb the cliff, before reaching the finish 130 km away along a fast track.

Stage 15 -  16 January  2004 - TIDJIKJA > NOUAKCHOTT
Liaison 2 km	Special 579 km	Liaison 70 km	Total  651 km

Having managed to avoid it ever since the start of the race, the competitors now have to deal with the terrible camel grass, along a 200 kilometre off-road route. The day before the arrival in Dakar there is everything yet to play for. This special, requiring both good navigation and courageous driving, might still cause some upsets in the final ranking. Drivers will also have to keep a close eye on fuel consumption right until the last few kilometres and the crossing of the Amoukrouz dune field just before the finish.

Stage 16 -  17 January  2004 - NOUAKCHOTT > DAKAR
Liaison 60 km	Special 191 km	Liaison 396 km	Total  647 km

With the major difficulties now behind us, it is time for pleasure and driving in a special stage that is partly new, fast and windy. Its twisting sandy tracks will take the competitors to the Mauritanian border. Then from Rosso will come the liaison route to Dakar, resembling a great parade where thousands of Senegalese will line the road to cheer the survivors of this 26th Dakar in a climactic finale.

Stage 17 -  18 January  2004 - DAKAR > DAKAR
Liaison 42 km	Special 27 km	Liaison 37 km	Total  106 km

The finish of this 26th race will break with tradition, for although this last special will be raced around the Lac Rose, there will not be a line-up start on the beach, as is usual.
The competitors will do the opposite, starting one by one from the lake and finishing on the beach, where they will have to complete another liaison to reach the podium situated inside the Méridien, where the Awarding of Prizes will be made.