Ross Branch: “We’re still in the game”

Dakar 2025 | Stage 2 | BISHA > BISHA
January 6 ^th 2025 - 14:18 [GMT + 3]

Branch was more discrete during the 48 HR Chrono stage than Brabec or Schareina and has completed the two days dropping down a place in the general standings, but nevertheless remains on the podium. The Hero rider is only a handful of seconds behind 2nd-placed rider Howes. His nearest pursuer Schareina is just as close. He is under pressure from the Honda clan, but this is a position the man from Botswana has got used to over the last year and it did not prevent him from winning the world championship.

“It’s still early days and we have a very long rally ahead of us. The main objective was to get the bike back in one piece. We knew the organisers were going to throw a hard stage at us. We’re still in the game, that’s the main thing. We might have lost a bit of time, but there’s still time to catch up again. The main goal is to be consistent. The Dakar is not won in the first week, for sure, but it’s easily lost, so I’m just trying to stay consistent and on the right track, not make any big mistakes and get to the finish, then we’ll see how the results are. I think everybody is taking a lot of risks, including myself, I’ve taken a couple, but I’m trying to limit the risks and hopefully that will work out for us at the end of the rally”.