Team HRC performs well in a gruelling desert stage

Today was a really difficult stage. I opened the track with a really complicated stage in the dunes. At kilometre 30 I got over-confident and strayed away from a waypoint and to mark it I had to climb some really complicated dunes. When I found it and got back on to the right path I saw that some riders had already gone past, but there were tracks everywhere and I had difficulty following them. It was a really hard day for navigation. I think that I did pretty well even with a waypoint that didn’t seem to correspond, but I arrived having done it all. The bike worked well and we will keep pushing over the next couple of days.

Today was a better day for me, above all, because I felt much more comfortable on the bike. I was more confident and able to keep up a higher pace throughout the race. I made a couple of navigational errors, but I think that it was a day where my confidence picked up and I’m pleased about that. I hope that it goes well for Paulo over the next couple of days and we finish the race well.

Today’s stage was the Copiapo loop, mainly in the sand dunes, so it was a very tough stage. It was also a typical Dakar-style stage on hard terrain with a lot of navigation and a lot of open desert. It was very good practice. Paulo did a great job opening the track without losing so much time and he had a good experience with the navigation. Also, Jere didn’t miss any waypoints and made the most out of the day. Today’s results are not yet definitive but it looks like some riders will have penalties coming through for missed waypoints due to the tricky navigation. Let’s take the results as they come after the jury meeting and we’ll see how the starting order is for tomorrow. Two days to go and we will try our best to improve day by day.