Ricky Brabec  Ricky Brabec (born 21 April 1991) is an American rally raid biker who in 2020 became the first American winner of the Dakar Rally. Brabec was born in San Bernardino, California and started BMX when he was five years old. When he was 15, he and his family moved to the desert city of Hesperia, California. First trying motocross, Brabec began rally raiding in 2011. In 2014, Brabec won the Baja 1000, Baja 500 and San Felipe 250. He was fifth in the bike category at Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in 2015. In 2016, he was sixth at Merzouga Rally and seventh at Atacama Rally in the bike category. He made his Dakar Rally debut in 2016 and finished in 9th. In 2017, he won his first stage, but failed to finish the race. In 2018, he was running in 6th place when he was forced out of the race. It was the second time in his career that he retired from a race. In 2019, he retired for the third consecutive year. In 2020, he won the bike category and two stages.