Viladoms: “I felt small”
He keeps a strange memory of his first Dakar. Jordi Viladoms isn’t the kind of man to embroider; he admits that his 2006 experience was difficult. "When I climbed on the bike I didn’t know what I was going to discover’’. Switching from a season of motocross to the Dakar isn’t easy but the biker from Igualada, in Catalunya, managed to hang on. Although he says he “felt small” in front of the size of the event, he proved he had serious qualities during the second part of the event and finished all the stages among the ten best riders until a fall during the stage between Tambacounda and Dakar prevented him from seeing the Lac Rose, while he was in 13th position. An “extra lesson” according to him that shows at which point the youngest of the three KTM-Repsol riders wants to learn. Jordi Viladoms will this year be at the start after a first Dakar perfectly analysed and after a season totally established on rally-raids. A real preparation that allowed him to know the discipline a lot better. From Argentina to Dubai, not forgetting Sardinia, Morocco and Egypt, the professional rider since only 2005 competed in five rallies. His third rally in Dubai showed that Jordi was getting better and better at the right time. His role during the Dakar will be to stay as close as possible of Marc Coma, his leader. A mission that he intends on fulfilling as well as possible without thinking about his own race. “The team will sacrifice for Marc’’, he explains. He also knows that being in the tracks of Marc Coma will allow him to be in an excellent position. Not enough to overexcite this young man who studied engineering but interesting for a rider who has already shown that he learns quickly.