The Dakar changes, like everything in life. In the motorcycle category, racing is more contentious than ever, and the rhythm of the wise new tides bivouac most veterans. “I’m looking closer at the day they kick me out and kick me out,” explains Toby Price (Hillston, Australia, 35 years old), third overall and winner of both the 2016 and 2019 editions. “It’s a constant struggle. There are 12 or 13 guys who can win this race and that’s not bad news because we like to compete. Competing against so many riders is exciting.” In the 2023 edition, only Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna) and Ross Branch (Hero), winners of the tenth stage, managed to repeat their victory: ten special stages and eight different winners.
“No one is above the other. There are a lot of solid riders out there right now. Maybe especially Skyler [Howes] or Kevin [Benavides]but all went well. Perhaps the most irregular was [Daniel] Sanders, but it’s still there,” says Joan Barreda (Torreblanca, 39), winner of stage four and abandoned Honda after suffering three crashes, a broken big toe and another of the L2 vertebra in his lower back had suffered this edition.”The level of the race is very demanding in terms of navigation, but the level of the drivers has risen sharply. They all sail well and all pull very hard. I remember jumping over the dunes and they called me crazy. Now the first 15 of the standings do. Are they all crazy? No, it’s just that this is a different kind of rallying.”
At the gates of the Rub’ al Kahli desert and the marathon stage, Kevin Benavides (KTM) is the overall leader (35h46m06s) a minute and a half ahead of Skyler Howes (Husqvarna) and two over Price (KTM). With four stages remaining, the first nine scores are within 24 minutes, a scenario that opens up endless possibilities.
Behind so much equality lies the professionalization of the discipline. “It’s like preparing for the Olympic Games, everything is focused on a single event,” says Lorenzo Santolino (Salamanca, 35 years old), eleventh overall. “I’m 100% focused on the Dakar, it’s the goal of the year. You race other races, but everything is done with this one in mind.” Team structures are now turning to the training and racing schedule, including with smaller projects such as that of Sherco, a Spanish-French manufacturer based in Nimes and a factory in Caldes de Montbui.
The pilots now have a psychologist, a nutritionist, a fitness trainer and even their own doctor who is sent to the race. “On a motivational level, it’s not easy to start in February or March, but you have to start looking for goals and incentives. It’s easy to train a month in advance, but by then you should have everything done,” confirms the man from Salamanca. “If one trains a lot, the other trains more. They all follow the same direction when preparing,” says Joan Pedrero (Canet de Mar, 44 years old), one of the most respected members of the caravan and then backpacker of a legend like Marc Coma on KTM. “That has changed a lot. The new generations are climbing up the ranks and the teams have everyone training a lot. You put the batteries in.”
The regulation has also contributed to the balance of power. “I don’t see anyone upstairs. I think we all compete on equal terms. In terms of top speed, we have a 160km/h limit and most factories can achieve that,” assesses Price, who ensures that navigation and awards were crucial for leading the first few kilometers of last week’s stage could be. For Barreda, even as a spectator, victory will be “closer than ever”. Pedrero, who has seen them in all colors, is watching the fight from the middle of the standings – he is 21st in 3h21m42s-. “I don’t want to be in the shoes of my teammates. The differences are very small and they all go very quickly. This week, it’s not whoever runs the fastest who wins, but whoever runs with the greatest courage, and that’s very risky in an area with cut dunes,” he says of the desert surrounding the caravan, one of the largest in the world.
Meanwhile, Santolino is aiming for a top five finish. “You can lose 15 minutes if you make a navigation error, and I’m 20 minutes from the destination,” he says motivated. One of the most exciting motorcycle races of all time is decided in the dunes of the empty quadrant – as this unfathomable desert of Saudi Arabia is called – with mountains of sand up to 250 meters high. In an issue where champions like Sam Sunderland (2022) and Ricky Brabec (2020) have given up, Price, one of the best placed, points to persistence, leaving a phrase to ponder: “To be first, you must first cross the line destination every day”.
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