It’s a rollercoaster of a day for the Monster Energy Honda Team

Today was another long day for the riders and the team as we left Zagora. Tosha started first today as he won yesterday, but he made a navigational mistake at 6kms in and he lost some time. After that he made good pace and was riding very well until 104 kms where there was a neutralisation zone. The countdown from the road book for exiting the neutralisation was not clear for Tosha which meant he did not stay in the neutralisation zone for the required time. In the end this is the word of Tosha against the word of the organisers but at the moment Tosha has accepted the penalty. We know as a team he rode exceptionally well today and that’s something he can take forward towards the final two stages.

Adrien started well and did great navigation with good pace but over the last part was strewn with many stones and tracks where he did not feel so comfortable, so he lost a little time compared with Tosha and Daniel Sanders. Pablo was similar to Adrien too with great speed but he lost a few seconds here and there at the end.

This has been the story of the day but I am a little bit disappointed with the result for Tosha as this is the first race with the new digital roadbook that is integrated with the GPS. There were problems yesterday with this system too and the organisation have recognised this, while today similar problems may have appeared but the organisation have taken a different stance resulting in Tosha losing the lead of the rally.

The race continues so we will fight again tomorrow as this race is not over with many kilometres still to go as we focus on the win.

Well the first part of the stage was really fun to ride, there were some fast pistes in the valleys, with mixed terrain alternating between hard pack and sandy sections. Then we got to the classic Merzouga dunes which were really fun to ride until the refuelling. After that we started with the rocky section in the hard packed piste and I was pushing and feeling quite good. Then in the rocky sections it was a bit dangerous and I didn’t want to take any risks. I’m feeling better on the bike day by day with a good setup, so I’m happy.

Today I had a good stage, I was in Tosha’s dust for a while, then Daniel Sanders caught me so I spent half of the stage in a lot of dust. It was a bit frustrating to not be able to push in my own rhythm but I then focused, accepted the situation and kept more or less the same distance to Daniel. The last part was really stony but I enjoyed the ride, the bike is really safe and this is an important factor in this race because there is a lot of dangers and risk. I felt comfortable, I had good rhythm without the need to go faster than normal, so now I will remain focused for the next couple of days.

I made a big mistake six kilometres into the stage so I then had to try and fix something on my bike which meant I lost a bit of concentration and around four minutes in time. Adrien was coming and I tried to chase him, I then passed him and continued to push during the rest of the stage. Daniel is putting a lot of pressure on, so with two more days to go I will keep focussed and go for it.