Andy Caldecott fourth overall in 2003 Cross Country World Championship

Australia’s premier cross-country competitor, Andy Caldecott (KTM) has finished fourth in the 2003 world title, which concluded in the United Arab Emirates on October 24.

Caldecott, from Keith in South Australia, finished sixth in the UAE Desert Challenge, with the 10pts garnered in the tough conditions taking his season’s haul to 57 – equal with Spanish rider Juan Roma (KTM). However, in a countback, Roma was awarded third place in the championship behind Frenchman Cyril Despres and Polish rider Marek Dabrowski – also KTM mounted.

Caldecott, who won this year’s Australian Safari for the fourth year in a row, was ambivalent about his UAE experience, declaring: "It was nice to reach the finish, but I wish I could have ridden a bit quicker in the dunes. However, it was great experience for me.”

The next goal for the 39-year-old, who finished fourth in the 2003 title despite only competing in four of the six rounds, is to test himself in the grandest cross-country ally of them all – the famed Dakar event, which will be held early in the New Year.

“Now I need to attract some more support for the Dakar (offensive), because the event is not so well known in Australia."

Meanwhile, Despres defeated South African Alfie Cox by nearly six minutes in the UAE Desert Challenge to replicate the quinella from 2002 – but this time Despres also had the world championship victory to celebrate.

"It is fantastic for me to win the world championship,” said an ebullient Despres. “I did not think that would be possible after breaking my collarbone. It was the best Desert Challenge ever for me. A great route and quality competition, which pushed me all the way.”

Despres was only a 3pt leader over Dabrowski – a privateer like Caldecott – after round five, but some heady work in the opening two stages of the UAE saw off his rival’s challenge, meaning that he only had to cruise in the final 532k stage into Dubai to make good on his world championship claim.

Despres’ total elapsed time in the four-stage rally was 16 hours, 24 minutes and nine seconds, followed by Cox (16:30.08), Dabrowski (16:34.22), with another Polish rider, Jacek Czachor (KTM, 16:43.30), making it into fourth. Caldecott finished on 17:11.01.

At the cessation of hostilities, Despres completed the year on 86pts from Dabrowski (74), with Roma and Caldecott on 57.