We met with her in the dining room tent of Wadi Al Dawasir, a common place for all the members of the bivouac, just before grabbing something for dinner with Santolino, whom she considers a brother, and going to sleep. Sometimes it is difficult to balance schedules, especially for those who do a Dakar on a motorcycle like Sandra Gomez (28 years old, Madrid). The one from Cercedilla, a regular at the Trial World Championship, in which she was fourth in 2021, is the only woman to make her debut in the desert this year and AS talks to her after the eighth stage, in which she suffered her first two crashes.
“It has been noticed that it was the longest stage and we have already been several days …”, he said with fatigue peeking out from behind the mask, but without losing heart because he is very clear about his great objective: “Finish. Being here is already the milk, and finish it a little more (laughs) “. At the moment, she is at it with the Husqvarna of the XRaids Clinicas Cres, occupying the 73rd place in the general: “I am second in the girls’ classification and I am happy because Mirjan Paul is impressive how she is doing, she has nine dakares and it shows. Every day. I learn new things from her and from others. “
Above all, of Santolino. “Without him I would not have been here and I would be lost. ‘Loren’ has given me many classes and still gives them to me at some dinner (laughs). I am very grateful and above all he is doing very well, so great, “says the man from Salamanca, and reveals what ‘tricks’ he has revealed:” He has taught me things that coming from enduro, as happened to him, it took learning and I compressed it in a few days. For example, not to sail and pilot at the same time, and not to follow others, to look at my own career “. A good teacher.
A trial rider in ‘La Casa de Papel’
Sandra is a trial and enduro rider, she combines both disciplines, but “the Dakar was always there”, she just had to wait for her chance and it came last summer: “Financially it was impossible until a sponsor opened the door for me, in September we started up. “Quite a dream, although he knows well how to fulfill them …” For a couple of years “he has belonged to a group of specialists and He participated in the filming of ‘La Casa de Papel’ as a Tokyo stuntman, when Úrsula Corberó’s character was riding a motorcycle.
“We worked with a ‘Netflix’ production company and I had to do ‘La Casa de Papel’ for a couple of days. It was one more experience, I’ve had others like ‘Sky Rojo’. When I did it, the series was not so well known, but I like it because you ride a motorcycle and it involves little challenges. Let’s see if they call me for more things, “he laughs. Perhaps participating in a Dakar will raise his cache, although he is not here for that, of course, but to return in the future:” Hopefully, we will see if some more sponsor is added. “If not, you know where the Bank of Spain is …