KTM has revealed an entirely new-generation KTM 450 RALLY bike in a bid to claim a seventeenth consecutive Rally Dakar victory. It will be raced by 2017 Dakar winner, Briton Sam Sunderland, who got to check it out when it was unveiled at the Milan bike show yesterday.

Representing two years of intense development, the bike is faster and lighter while being more agile and stable. Wrapped in new bodywork and housed in a bespoke, freshly developed chassis is a new 450cc single cylinder engine. Controlled by a new engine management system and a revised throttle body, the result is better peak performance and improved throttle response. And in the true KTM style and for non-factory pilots, a customer version KTM 450 RALLY REPLICA will become available during 2018.

Although the bodywork masks the frame and motor, it’s likely to be the new engine and chassis that will be used in KTM’s 2019 production motocross bikes. This was unveiled at the recent Monster Cup in Las Vegas.