Quad: help a biker, win a stage!

Dakar 2018 | Stage 8 | Uyuni > Tupiza
January 14 ^th 2018 - 03:22 [GMT -4]

38-year-old Axel Dutrie took his first stage win at the Dakar and showed his gallantry by helping another competitor.

It happens dozens of times on the courses of the Dakar. Competitors helping one another in their time of need, far away from the fight for glory. Yesterday afternoon, 38-year-old quad driver Axel Dutrie screeched to a halt on the muddy tracks between La Paz and Uyuni despite being in the mix for the stage win.

"I found a biker stuck in black mud. You could only see his saddle and handlebar. I took pity on him", explains Axel. He therefore decided to get him out of the mire together with another bikes that dropped by. "Of course, when you help someone, it takes some energy out of you, but I really couldn't leave him there to his own devices."

The story had an even happier ending: the rider from Calais got back on the move at went on the attack while carefully seeking to avoid any mistakes. At the finish, he asked Luc Alphand how well he had fared. "And then, he said I'd won. I was delighted!" Axel Dutrie took his maiden Dakar win in what is only his second participation. The rider from northern France is fifth overall, 2 hours and 51 minutes behind the Chilean leader, Ignacio Casale.