Spanish · Tarragona, Spain · Born 11 December 1985Spanish motorsport athlete who dominated women's trial racing with 13 consecutive world championships and pioneered female participation in Dakar Rally.
Laia Sanz Pla-Giribert was born on 11 December 1985 in Corbera de Llobregat, near Barcelona, Spain, and began riding motorcycles at three, competing by age seven, developing into one of the most decorated female off-road riders in the sport's history. Sanz became a 14-time Women's Trial World Champion and ten-time Women's Trial European Champion, dominating the discipline for over a decade, and also helped Spain's female team win the Trial des Nations on five occasions between 2000 and 2011. Sanz expanded into rally raid competition, becoming the Women's World Enduro Champion, and completed her first Dakar Rally in 2011 at 25, finishing 39th overall and winning the female class, a result she repeated the following year — a remarkable achievement given the discipline's physical demands and overwhelmingly male field. Sanz has raced for Beta, Montesa, KTM, and Gas Gas across her career, competing in both female and male championship categories, and remains widely regarded as the benchmark against which all other women in off-road and rally raid motorcycling are measured.
13 consecutive Women's Trial World Championships and Dakar Rally achievements
How They Played
Technical precision in trials, endurance specialist in rallies
Lasting Impact
Most successful female trial rider in history and Dakar Rally pioneer
Career Honours
- Trial World Champion x13
- 11 Dakar Rally finishes
- Best female result Dakar overall
- Spanish Sports Award
Spanish Athletes