Stronger together

Dakar 2021 | Stage 3 | Wadi Ad-Dawasir > Wadi Ad-Dawasir
January 5 th 2021 - 09:45 [GMT + 3]

Since the start of the Dakar, Sara Jugla and Alexandre Bispo have joined forces to try and overcome the difficulties of the world’s toughest rally-raid.

 “Without him, I would never have finished the first special. If he hadn’t helped me, I would have had to drop out”. On Sunday afternoon, Sara Jugla found her saviour in the guise of Alexandre Bispo. “I couldn’t stop falling on the rocky parts and each time he helped me pick up my bike. We finished together, exhausted but happy to have met each other”. Since then, the woman from Bordeaux and the man from Paris have not left each other’s side. “We’re stronger together,” says Alexandre. Yesterday, they completed the stage between Bisha and Wadi Ad-Dawasir wheel-to-wheel; or rather side-by-side, because, like the previous day, they finally conquered the special by the time night had already fallen a while before on the Saudi desert. “We can see better if we ride side-by-side,” observes Alexandre. It was a tough day. “There were soft sand and huge dunes,” explains Sara. “At some points, we had to get off and push our bikes together, one after the other. But we also crossed some amazing landscapes and superb canyons. We took advantage to take a photo of ourselves”. Such moments of grace have cheered them up. “Yesterday, we were miserable, but this evening we’re proud of ourselves,” admitted Alexandre yesterday evening at the finish of the special. Last year, for his first Dakar, he was forced into a premature exit on the fourth stage. This year, he is dreaming of doing better. It should be said that he is not the type of guy to give up easily. When he was a teenager, he spent two years in hospital to overcome leukaemia. “I’m here to go that extra mile,” he says. “There are millions of people who would dream of being in our shoes,” adds Sara. “We can’t give up”. As a result, Sara and Alexandre will be taking starter’s orders this morning for the third stage, despite a dislocated thumb for her and another night with only four hours sleep for each of them. “Now we’re a team,” they declare in unison.

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