Can you imagine what was the first word he declared Joan Barreda in his talk with the Spanish media at the bivouac: “Contento”. It was easy, right? It could not be otherwise after marking the stage that was marked, with a victory that tastes of glory after being one of those who suffered the disaster on the first day: “The mess we had was a hard blow, and making up time is a good thing. There are ten days ahead and anything can happen. We are physically well, I have worked a lot throughout the year and it is time to get everything out. “
Only that victory and the 20 minutes he recovered were reason enough to be happy, but it is also necessary to add a milestone with which he rises one ranking in the history of the Dakar by adding 28 victories, one more than Arcarons, and finishing third in the historical one after the 33 of Peterhansel and Despres. “When you know that you have won a stage you are already happy, but if you stop to think about the size of having won 28 … it’s something that makes me proud. In the end that speaks of my last eight years on the Dakar, I have left my mark “, He says.
Once the good news had been discussed, the bad news had to be discussed, which translates into the mess of Stage 1. “It was a day like few remember, a waste of so much time and so many people is something strange to say the least”, Before explaining how he experienced it, he summarizes: “I was opening the track and in that situation you are more damaged than anyone. Starting the Dakar like this was very hard, when you’ve been working every day for half a year, you arrive here and the first one you find yourself like this … Now I can only think about doing your best. “
“They always say that we pay attention to the directions, and in that situation it was not like that. I did not find the track that the ‘roadbook’ marked, this time I had to look for a path and it was not seen, you do not know what to do if a the roads to the courses. There in the end it is a lottery, the one who comes out first is the most damaged and the one who does it on the fifteenth wins the lottery “, comments the Honda in the same terms in which Sainz was heard a year ago. But now, it’s time to think positively and “try to save the furniture” by having to open in the third stage.