Patrice Taravella, one of the original Paris–Dakar Rally motorcycle racers, passed away earlier this week.

Taravella was a dentist who graduated from Lycée Edouard Branly Créteil. He eventually competed in the second Abidjan–Nice Rally in a Toyota Land Cruiser BJ40, which was later acquired by French radio personality Max Meynier. Meynier covered the inaugural Dakar Rally in 1979 from the Land Cruiser, providing daily recaps for RTL.

In that same race, Taravella took part on a Honda XLS250 and finished 32nd overall. He was part of Team Moto-Marne alongside Christian Desnoyer and Jean-Pierre Dos Reis, the former retiring from the race while the latter placed 20th. Desnoyer was a French trials champion while Dos Reis worked as a Honda dealer in Le Perreux-sur-Marne; while Desnoyer’s bike was stronger than his teammates’ since he had Honda France support, Dos Reis and Taravella relied on imported Mugen parts.

“We met a long time ago, back in the days of trial riding in the ’70s and ’80s with the whole gang from Le Perreux and the banks of the Marne, before sharing the incredible adventure that was the first Paris–Dakar ’79 with Christian Desnoyer, all three of us starting from my Moto Marne shop,” Dos Reis recalled. “Life then took us in different directions and, having lived outside of France for a long time, I had unfortunately not seen Patrice for many years.

“But some memories and some friends remain, despite the passing of time. I will cherish the memory of those wonderful years and that amazing adventure we shared.”

His service took place on Friday afternoon at the Église Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais de Bry-sur-Marne.

Featured image credit: Pierre Deveaux