Matthias Walkner: "I just tried to do nothing crazy"

Dakar 2018 | Stage 13 | San juan > Cordoba
January 19 ^th 2018 - 18:07 [GMT -3]

There is one day and 120 kilometres of racing separating Matthias Walkner from becoming the first Austrian winner of the Dakar in the bike category.

“No, there was nothing special, I just tried to do nothing crazy. I know it was a really, really long day and the guys in the back were pushing like hell. I had a good heading and I didn’t want to be too nervous. I just tried to be focused on the stage and do my best. There is quite a big gap, but it can change so quickly. We’ve seen this today and before, if you have a technical problem and you get a bit lost. It can change really, really quickly, but at the moment it does not look so bad for me. I tried to just do nothing crazy, because in the end the race is over 14 days and it is not stage by stage. It's the fastest overall who will win, so I didn't want to risk so much, because it was quite a long day and a dangerous day for going fast, because there were big rocks on the side. It was a good day, I think. There is still one day more to go, it's really crazy to think otherwise. A lot of things can still happen. Twenty minutes on the last day is the same as twenty minutes on the second or third day. We have 120 kilometres left to go, so I'm going to stay focused on it and try my best".