An island in the desert!
Dakar 2020 |
Stage 4 |
Neom
> ALULA
January 8
th
2020
- 08:58
[GMT + 3]
Dakar rookie Sébastien Cosjean is here just to have fun and serve as the proud representative of Corsica in Saudi Arabia.
Sébastien Cosjean's unbridled enthusiasm is what it means to tackle the Dakar in pure Corsican style. Just three days into his experience, the most upbeat biker in the Neom bivouac has already got a bunch of stories to tell. Even the setbacks he has experience fail to dampen his sunny disposition: "I took a rough tumble on the first day. I was riding at 80 km/h and ended up flying in the air two metres above my bike. I miraculously emerged unscathed, but my clothes ended up directly in the rubbish bin". Seb's personality means he tends to focus on the bright side of life. The beautiful landscapes on the course are certainly a plus… perhaps to the point of acknowledging Saudi Arabia could be as gorgeous as his home island? "No, let's not get carried away, nothing can match the beauty of Corsica", protests a man in love with his region. "But there were some really breathtaking sights today: the huge rocks and canyons with red earth at the bottom remind me of the rocky inlets in Piana. Back home, they plunge into the sea, whereas here they're bang in the middle of the desert". However, the human dimension is the best part of the experience, both within the Original by Motul category and in the midst of the 2,500 people who fill the bivouac: "I'm usually making sausages at this time of the year! "I'd never seen crowds as big as these before. I live in a village with 100 inhabitants —counting animals. It's blowing me away. The way how this works is amazing. You can't find an adventure like this anywhere else, it simply doesn't exist!". Sébastien is determined to have fun all the way to the finish, "taking it one kilometre at a time, carefully, so I can take the flag with the Moor's head onto the podium". He can already think of the celebration that the goats, pigs and children of Bisina are preparing for him.