"We were all up to our necks in the sand!"
Dakar 2018 |
Stage 3 |
Pisco
> San Juan de Marcona
January 8
th
2018
- 02:34
[GMT -5]
Axel Dutrie, a quad rider from northern France, especially suffered on the 2nd stage, like many other competitors and gives us an insight into what happened.
“I’ve never ever been stuck in the sand so much in my life!” Axel Dutrie, who is taking part in his 2nd Dakar, was not used to tackling so many dunes. In total during the day, he had to cover 267 km of special stage in the heart of the Peruvian desert during a big loop around Pisco. “What was nice was setting off later than usual,” he explains. Indeed, the bikers and quad riders started after the cars and were able to enjoy a few hours extra sleep. “I’ve never seen that on the Dakar before!” chuckles Axel, who was happy to have enjoyed a well-deserved rest before tackling the day’s racing.
However, it soon got very tough for the riders. “It wasn’t long at all before we were getting stuck in the sand,” points out Axel Dutrie. “It was horrific! Most of the European riders are riding with a mixed set of tyres. However, the locals are using specific tyres that make their bikes more agile to handle. They can get through the dunes more quickly than we can, whereas we were all up to our necks in the sand!”
The route of the special was transformed into a gigantic and strange-looking battlefield: “There were dozens of bikes, quads and even cars that were stuck. It was an impressive sight!” For Axel and for the majority of competitors, after the stage, rest was a priority, for a good reason: today, they will have to tackle 296 km between Pisco and San Juan de Marcona with a significant portion of desert once again.
