Laia Sanz: “The secret to being respected is to achieve good results”

The rider faces her eleventh Dakar Rally in the motorcycle category.

Laia sanz (Corbera de Llobregat, Barcelona, ​​1985) faces his eleventh Dakar with reduced strength due to a tick: his bite transmitted Lyme disease. He has not been able to work as hard as he would have liked, but he hopes to play a great role again and compete to be in the top 15. His results are what has earned him the respect of everyone in a world as tough as motorcycles, although he assumes that the step towards cars is getting closer and closer. Next year, for now, compete with Carlos Sainz in a championship designed precisely for electric cars.

What has Lyme disease meant when preparing for the Dakar?

It has been a tough year. At this point, I am not as I would like to go to face a Dakar, but they are things that cannot be chosen and, within what has happened, we must try to take it in the best possible way. This December I have been able to do a bit of motorcycle riding, start training, and we’ll see how my body will tolerate the effort.

Was he very surprised to find out what he was suffering from?

The truth is that it was hard, because it cost a lot to diagnose, very strange things happened to me and, in the end, you get scared. Also, going from doctor to doctor, to do tests. It took three or four months to find out what was wrong with me and it was difficult

Perhaps it had a lot to do with the fact that here it is not a very widespread disease …

There are not many cases. Perhaps it was because of this that it cost so much, in other places it is diagnosed faster, here it is rarer, but I live in a mountain place, where there are sheep, ticks, and it is easier to get it than in a city like Barcelona.

The pandemic also complicated everything and is still complicating it. How did you manage to train yourself during confinement?

Confinement was a very complicated situation, but within that, the truth is that I cannot complain. We were able to do the Dakar, which was like our race of the year, so the season was saved, so to speak, in other sports everything had to be canceled. While it lasted, I was able to train well. Nowadays, with Facetime I was able to do a couple of hours a day with the coach, so the physical part was able to work a lot. I am lucky to live in a place where I have a garage, a garden, four machines to work with, a roller, and with that we were able to do good training sessions. Later, when we started dating, that’s when I contracted that disease.

How did you experience the gradual return to competition?

I missed him a lot, but mostly more because of the illness than because of the confinement, because with the confinement everyone was at home. What I had, more than wanting to compete, was wanting to feel good so I could compete, because I couldn’t do it.

With everything that has happened in recent weeks, the new strains of the coronavirus and other complications, has the possibility of having to suspend the race come to be considered?

No, I think we have to be positive. The ASO has a lot of organizational experience, it is very powerful, and I am sure that when organizing the race they contemplated all possible scenarios. It might be a bit more stressful, especially for some countries, but it will work out in the end. Let’s hope that we can all arrive when it comes time, and from all countries, because, if not, it will not be too fair.

He also arrived at the 2019 edition after a complicated year in terms of health and, even so, he managed to remain in twelfth position. You say you are used to overcoming challenges?

Any athlete, because we all have our things, our wars, who has not had a serious injury has gone through something similar to what has happened to me, is used to overcoming things. In this sense, I have been quite negative for two years, with a bit of bad luck, infections, some injuries … They have been complicated because I have not had the opportunity to be able to train more often and do a few motorcycle and physical lengths.

The last edition was the first in Saudi Arabia and he did not like their approach very much. He went on to point out that it was almost like playing Russian roulette. Do you think things will be different this year?

Yes, I think so. I think that David Castera, who is the one who designs the route a bit, has the advantage that he has raced on a motorcycle, he listens to us a lot and has a lot of experience. I’m sure you did a good job. Nobody is interested in a Dakar as fast as last year, this year we will have more navigation, it will be a little slower, also because of the regulation changes, with the issue of limiting tires and piston changes. All this helps make a Dakar a little different.

Last year, after several editions without victims, it resulted in the death of two competitors, Paulo Gonalves and Edwin Straver. What does a fact like that suppose on a psychological level for those who compete or are about to do it?

The truth is that the subject of Paulo was complicated, because we all knew him very well, we went through the scene of the accident and I think we were all very aware of what was happening. Something like that, I have shared a team with him, it became very hard. You have little desire to continue, seeing all that, and it was difficult to manage. Later, in the last days, there was also the accident of the Dutch pilot. In the end, all lives have the same value, but it did not touch us as closely as what happened to Paulo, one of the most experienced pilot, loved by everyone. It was a very hard blow.

Most of the fatalities among the participants, 22 out of 31, were motorcyclists. What do you think could be done to break this statistic once and for all?

Risk exists on the Dakar, we all know it, it has always been there. Above all, on a motorcycle. But I think that work is being done to try to reduce it. This year, for example, we are all required to carry an airbag and other things have been done as well. Now, we are warned of the dangers by means of an alarm, before they were only signaled in the roadbook. It’s about helping to avoid them, about trying not to hurt yourself too much if you fall, although sometimes it is complicated. Even with an airbag, if you fall at 100 miles per hour it’s hard not to hurt yourself. We know that we run this risk and any changes made to the regulations to reduce it are welcome.

If the motorcycle carries a higher risk, what is it that pushes so many people to get on it to compete?

All of this is part of the magic of the Dakar. All these sports that have this point of risk have something that attracts and that makes us all go there, despite how dangerous it is. That it is so dangerous, so harsh, is also what makes it magical. Sometimes you are there and you think what am I doing here, getting up so early, going cold and hot, but we all come back. It has something magical that attracts us and we all return.

Being the highest ranked woman in the Dakar year after year puts you under added pressure?

No. My goal, above all, is to finish and fight in the general classification. I don’t look at that classification much, but rather do my best in the motorcycle general classification.

Last year 12 women competed and this year 16 will compete. The key to obtaining the respect of all in a world as traditionally chauvinistic as that of motorsport is perseverance?

The secret to being respected is to achieve good results. I, at least, believe that I have earned the respect of the other pilots, the opponents, the bivouac in general, because I have achieved good results and I am not there for the simple fact of being a woman, but I fight with those who are there. in front.

He has already completed ten consecutive Dakars on motorcycles, a record, and faces number 11, but there is more and more talk about a possible change to cars. Do you see yourself taking this step soon?

We’ll see. It depends on whether there is an early option to do things or not. Now, I think about this Dakar, which is what he plays right now. I have always tried to set short-term goals. I know it is true that I am no longer 20 years old, that it will be my eleventh Dakar on motorcycles and that all that weighs. I don’t know if it is because of the illness that I have suffered, if I did not find myself with more desire and strength to continue, but the car is a very good way to extend the race and I see myself closer to them every time, if the opportunity arises .

For now, it has already been announced that they will share equipment in electric car competitions with Carlos Sainz next year. Do you think that an electric car could be really competitive in the Dakar?

Yes, I think in a few years is the idea of ​​the organization. Maybe not that they are completely electric, because it is complicated, because of the life of the battery, but maybe they are hybrid models or with other sources of energy. Everybody from the motor is pulling over there. Surely, in two or three years we will see a major change in this regard.

What does it mean to share a team with Carlos Sainz?

This year we have only trained, next year, we will compete together. For me, it is an honor. That Carlos Sainz calls you to be in a project like that makes me very excited. It is clear that there will also be a lot of pressure, because he is super competitive and always wants to be ahead and I am new in this world. I hope to learn a lot from him, I think it is something that can help me get into the four wheels, and I hope I can do it quickly so I can measure up to someone like him.