Sam Sunderland: “The pace is super high”

Dakar 2021 | Stage 8 | Sakaka > Neom
January 11 ^th 2021 - 13:39 [GMT + 3]

The British rider, third in the general standings without having yet won a stage, is six minutes behind Cornejo and still in the reckoning for overall victory.

“It looks like my bike is in a bad way, but if you saw the terrain I’ve been through, then she’s looking quite good. It’s been two day’s with the same tyres and wheels with no assistance, maybe around 1600 kilometres. I've got a big dint in my front rim but I’m sure quite a few of us have. The speed’s really fast and you look down at the road-book to try and navigate and it’s just normal that you miss some rocks every now and again. I'm just trying to take it each day as it comes. We've got a long way to go. It's a really difficult race, the pace is super high. The guys are doing a great job opening the stage also. I just keep trying to do my best and see where I end up. There are so many guys that are doing a professional job away from the race with the teams for training and navigation, so there aren’t so many guys making mistakes, and like I said, they’re doing a great job opening. Also, with the nature of the terrain, on a lot of the stages you still need to keep a close eye on navigation because all through these last fifty or sixty kilometres, there were so many tracks, so you don't see their tracks that often so you have to find your own way. I feel good and I rode with Skyler today. We had some fun and it's just another day done”.