What are the chances of being able to greet and photograph in the Wadi ad Dawasir desert with the cyclist with the most stage wins in … the history of the Tour? Yesterday I met Mark Cavendish at kilometer 310, who is here at the invitation of the organization. The Dakar never ceases to surprise you with every kilometer, even when you get off the bike, as was the case yesterday. You can’t ride a bike through the dunes, although Cavendish could still do it thanks to the power of his sprinter’s legs.
This Monday we have left behind the longest special of the rally. The eighth stage had 480 kilometers of timing, to complete a total of 720 km in total if you add the links. What can I say? It has been very tiring, but the important thing is that we reached the goal, even if it was difficult.
The truth is that I have started very well. I felt phenomenal in the first 180 kilometers of the stage and this was reflected in the partials I had been marking, but after the first refueling I fell and from that moment on things began to go wrong.
It is the first fall I have suffered in this Dakar. It occurred in a very slow area of stones, where I should not have fallen, with sharp stones. I’m perfect and so is the bike. This setback has caused him to lose concentration on the bike and added more problems along the way.
As a result of that incident I got lost while navigating and had to go back along the way to cross the waypoints and thus avoid the penalties. I caught up with the riders who had passed me, but I was no longer as focused as at the start. I have been thinking about it all the time and that has conditioned my rhythm.
Towards the end, beyond kilometer 400, I became disoriented again and lost even more time. Luckily, at that moment I met a colleague and I followed his wheel, until in the last 20 kilometers I decided to overtake him.
It has been a bittersweet stage. Very hard and very long. I hope all the bad stages I have left in the Dakar are like this. Unlike Sunday, this has not been a stage of straight and flat roads. She has been very hard-working and has had everything. Sand, dunes, sand slopes, fast slopes, stone slopes, stone canyons, sand canyons…
Now comes the second marathon of this edition of the Dakar. This Tuesday we will sleep in tents in the middle of the desert again. We return to the intimacy of the race. This rally is very special.
