“If you want to beat the other guys you have to trainer harder than them”

Laisvydas Kancius made an impressive Dakar debut in 2021 with a 7th place finish in the quad class. Falling head over heels in love with the event, the Lithuanian was back in 2022 and, determined to improve on the previous year, finished the second stage in the overall lead. Unfortunately, the very next day he ran into technical problems that eventually saw him retire from the event with broken front suspension. If it hadn’t been for more technical problems Laisvydas would have finished the 2023 Dakar on the podium, but as it was, he had to settle for 2 stage victories and 2 podiums. He went on to prove just how fast he is by winning the 2023 W2RC quad category. That’s made him a star in Lithuania, where rally raid is the second most popular sport after basketball, but he still has to squeeze his passion in between work and family obligations…

“It was fantastic to win the quad category world cup this year. For sure going to buy the bread takes a little bit longer now because people want you to sign an autograph -but their smiles are your reward. I might now get recognised in the street it hasn’t made my life much easier. There are about 10 teams from Lithuania, it is a small country and we are all chasing the same sponsorship money. Raising the cash is as hard as the Dakar itself. I’m a construction engineer and it is a demanding job. I get up at 5 in the morning and work until 3 in the afternoon. Then either I go to some army land to train on the quad or I go to the gym. I get home at about 6 in the evening, have a couple of hours with my family and then I go to bed. I fall asleep very quickly… There is some very strong opposition in my category from all over the world and if you want to beat those guys you have no choice but to train harder than them. My wife isn’t always happy but she understands my passion and fortunately she is Superwoman!”