Nani Roma: Dakar 2024 Podium Fightback

Nani Roma was fighting to retain his second place in the general classification of the car category when, 500 meters from the finish line, a stone on the road destroyed the right suspension and wheel of his vehicle.

As a result of the tension of the moment, the veteran (53 years old) two-time Dakar champion – on motorcycles (2004) and in cars (2014) – could not hold back his tears, in an image that is already part of the legend of this tough raid. Once recovered, Roma and his co-driver, Álex Haro, helped by other drivers and members of the Ford team, worked against the clock to repair the damage.

Once the mechanical problem was resolved and after crossing the finish line, the 170 kilometers of connecting distance from the camp remained to be covered. This is a chapter of the Dakar that is less known to the public, but just as obligatory and, at times, tricky. In this final daily stretch it is not necessary to be faster than the rivals, but it is necessary to complete it in the time set by the organization, 2 hours and 45 minutes maximum in the 12th stage held this Friday.

Roma and Haro were at it when the car stopped. There was not a drop of gasoline left in the tank, so they were not going to be able to finish the stage on their own. Standing in the middle of nowhere and when they had already given up on the day and, as a result, the final podium, a compatriot appeared, Laia Sanz (40 years old).

The Catalan driver, also a 14-time trial world champion and another 6 enduro world champion, participating in the same car category, stopped, got out and hitched the vehicle from Rome to her Ebro, ready to tow it to the bivouac.

The kilometers passed slowly, but the minutes flew by in Nani Roma’s head. I wasn’t going to make it. Laia, with a pilot as fine as it was fast, accelerated, always trying to keep the Ford attached to its hitch by a cable. And when the deadline set by the commissioners expired, the duo of cars burst into the camp raising a dust of relief and joy.

Nani left his cabin, immediately went to Laia’s car and gave her a heartfelt hug that sealed what is now, forever, the Spanish miracle of January 15, 2026. Then, the Barcelonan, exhausted, burst into tears again. Now, with tears of emotion.