A helpful tow

Dakar 2019 | Stage 9 | Pisco > Pisco
January 16 th 2019 - 00:27 [GMT -5]

On the Dakar, solidarity has never been an empty word. The history of the most famous rally-raid is brimming with countless anecdotes of such camaraderie, from the most dramatic, with competitors staying by the side of injured rivals as they wait to be airlifted, to simple helping hands and other such fixes. All the riders and drivers know that some day they might need a little help to avoid falling by the wayside. Nelson Augusto Sanabria got a taste of such a scenario ten kilometres from the finish of the long special on the eighth stage. “My quad ground to a halt just when I was already mentally getting ready to arrive at the bivouac," explains the Paraguayan. “I tried and tried to find what was wrong, but it was impossible to understand what the cause was”. But then his saviour arrived, in the guise of Gastón Ariel Mattarucco, a fine show of solidarity between quad riders. “Helping each other out is what the Dakar is all about,” replied the Argentinean, who did not hesitate to get out his rope to tow Nelson Augusto to the finishing line and even to the bivouac. “It wasn’t very complicated, because we were a little less than ten kilometres from the finish. Then we found ourselves on a track with fairly hard ground. It would have been much more difficult in the dunes”. Be that as it may, thanks to Mattarucco, Sanabria will be able to take starter’s orders on the ninth and penultimate stage of the rally.

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