Marathon woman

Dakar 2018 | Stage 9 | Tupiza > Salta
January 15 ^th 2018 - 02:58 [GMT -3]

Czech rider Olga Roučková reached the rest day in her first Dakar, but it was the marathon stage that really put her through her paces!

Not counting liaisons, Olga Roučková has spent about 70 hours on her quad since the start in Lima —more than twice as long as race leader Ignacio Casale. Almost every day she is among the last to cross the line. Sometimes on the verge of a nervous breakdown, often on the brink of exhaustion, like yesterday in Tupiza after finishing the brutal marathon stage. "I am really tired… I only got two hours of sleep! The marathon stage left me broken. I'm the slowest and I reached the bivouac very late. I had to work on my quad, review the road book, wash up and eat, with hardly any time for rest!" The tough conditions and long stages have not dampened Olga's enthusiasm for the Dakar: "It's my first Dakar, and I find it so hard! I know there are some difficult stages left, but I like it. Sometimes it rains, sometimes it's sunny… and, of course, the dunes. We don't have any in the Czech Republic. Now, my goal is to reach the finish… and, who knows, I might come back next year." As if it brought her a bit closer to Córdoba, the quad rider was in the mountains towering over Tupiza when she learned the Salta special had been cancelled: "It's insane, I'm overjoyed… But if this is a joke, I'm going to kill you!"