Editing Dakar Rally (section)

===Mid-2000s===
By [[2004 Dakar Rally|2004]], the entry list had increased to 595, up from 358 in 2001, with a record 688 competitors starting in [[2005 Dakar Rally|2005]].<ref name="retrospective"/> Alongside Mitsubishi and Nissan, [[Volkswagen]] now boasted a full factory effort, while Schlesser's [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]]-powered buggies and [[BMW]]s of the German [[X-raid]] team proved thorns in the side of the big budget works teams. The 2004 route was from [[Clermont-Ferrand]] to Dakar, and was the year Peterhansel emulated Hubert Auriol's feat of winning the rally on both two wheels and four. The Frenchman defended his title in 2005, when the rally began for the first time in [[Barcelona]]. In the bikes category, KTM continued their success with [[Nani Roma]] in 2004, who switched to the car category the following year, and [[Cyril Despres]] in 2005.

The [[2006 Dakar Rally|2006]] event moved to [[Lisbon]]. Nissan pulled out having failed to provide effective opposition to Mitsubishi, who took a sixth consecutive victory, this time with former skiing champion [[Luc Alphand]] after Peterhansel committed a series of errors late in the rally.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/world_rally/4606600.stm|title= Alphand takes charge with victory|date=12 January 2006|work=BBC Sport|access-date=2009-03-01}}</ref> Peterhansel made amends in [[2007 Dakar Rally|2007]], however, taking his third title in the car category for Mitsubishi after a close contest with Alphand after the increasingly competitive Volkswagens retired with mechanical problems. In what would be the final African event of the Dakar, Despres took his second title in the bikes category, having conceded victory in 2006 to [[Marc Coma]] after suffering an injury.