Pic: C. Lopez
testament to how skilful and determined she is.
“It’s never good to crash during any stage,” a disap-
pointed Sanz explained after stage 2. “But to crash at the
start of a stage, and a stage that has tricky navigation,
wasn’t good.”
“I broke part of my navigational equipment, so I had
to slow down to really concentrate on the navigation and
lost a lot of time.”
As Brabec took control on stage 3 many riders strug-
gled, taking falls, some serious, none more so that
Monster Energy Yamaha’s Adrien Van Beveren. The
Frenchman crashed heavily, breaking his collarbone and
severely bruising his hip. The stage got worse for Yama-
ha when their second rider, Xavier de Soultrait, fell at the
350-kilometre mark. Although a low speed accident the
Frenchman cut his forearm and couldn’t stem the bleed-
ing. He rode to the stage end and continued the follow-
ing day but could go no further. Damaged blood flow
had caused nerve damage and he could no longer roll the
throttle. Yamaha’s Dakar was over.
“When I put my hands out to soften the fall, I cut my
arm,” explained de Soultrait. “I had to cobble together a
tourniquet to stop the bleeding.”
The ‘Spirit of Dakar’ came to the fore on this stage
TRAVERSE 11