“We’re still in with a chance”

Dakar 2019 | Stage 5 | Moquegua > Arequipa
January 11 th 2019 - 17:55 [GMT -5]

Second to finish on the day’s stage behind Sam Sunderland, the Yamaha rider has reached Arequipa in 8th place in the general standings, but the gap of 18 minutes between himself and the leader allows him to foster hopes for the second part of the rally.

“I took it fairly easy to look after my tyres and save them for the dunes of Ilo at the end, where I thought it would help me make the difference compared to the others. However, the sand wasn’t soft enough for such a trick to work. It means I will be in a tricky starting position for the navigation on Sunday, but that’s what I’m good at so I’m happy. I wanted to take the first week fairly cautiously, but in the end I scored a first and second place once each, so all in all it’s been a good week. I thought that there might have been more of the top riders dropping out, but most of us are still here. We’ve lost Franco Caimi and Rodney Fagotter, but Adrien and myself are continuing to push the others and, if possible, increase our pace to find ourselves at the front at the finish. We’re still in with a chance”.

Xavier de Soultrait / Et.5 (FR)
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