Got to take my hat off to some of the bikers. Big balls and plenty of guts.
I was just reading of the day Bike leader Benavides suffered.... with a simple yeah Im in pain but thats Dakar.“It was a really hard day for me,” said Benavides. Having crashed, broken his nose and cut his leg badly, suffering from blood loss he just got back on and raced to get back lost time.
“At the beginning I got lost like all the riders, but after that I started to push a lot.
“On one dune I jumped, a big jump, and I crashed because I hit another big one with the front wheel.
“I banged my head like this and broke the GPS and everything. I cut myself too and started to lose a lot of blood. There was also some pain around my ankle.
“In the end, I continued and kept pushing with a lot of pain, so, yeah, it was really hard for me today.
“My nose is broken and also I broke the helmet, it was really hard.
“I think I’ll be okay for tomorrow. I’m in pain, but it will be OK.
“I also tried to push on the last part to win some time, but it was hard and there was a lot of pain today. But it’s like that, this is the Dakar.”
It seems a major problem with the roadmaps and books as many are suffering navigational problems and getting lost. Carlos Sainz said it was a joke and more like a gymkhana than a Dakar. Theproblem stems from this year's Dakar Rally ibeing the first in the event's history where roadbooks are handed to the drivers 15 minutes before the start of each stage instead of the previous day, as had been the case before.
Since the crews no longer have the time to add their own notes like in the past, organiser ASO has compensated for it by adding more detail to the roadbooks. But there also seems to be glitches in the software.
Carlos Sainz comments:
"I am a little demoralised and upset, because the rally looks more like a gymkhana than a rally-raid," the Spaniard said. "I've been on 14 Dakars and I've never been lost two days and lost half an hour in each one, nor have I seen everyone lost. This isn't the Dakar.
"This is becoming more of a gymkhana than a rally. What we have seen so far iit s not a rally. I just don't like it. It's more like a lottery, something like finding, this is not rallying. I'm really fed up.
"It's a gymkhana with the navigation. We've never had anything like it. Everybody gets lost, everybody tries to find the point. It's not what I like, at least."
Loeb was also pissed off.... he got given a speeding penalty of 5 minutes after he had to make time up in a monitored zone... he reckons he gained only a handful of seconds, and the loss was due to a software error in the first place. He accused the local organisation as being incompetent.
Especially as the software manufacturer admitted there was a fault with the GPS.
"You've been getting to know me a little bit over the years and I very seldom make a face," wrote Loeb.
"But tonight, I need to share with you the incompetence of the stewards' panel of such a mythical event as the #DakarRally.
"We have just been penalised by 5 minutes for exceeding the speed limit in a controlled zone.
"During all my participations, during all the stages and during all the speed control zones, I have always done my best to respect this rule.
"The only condition is that the GPS system, via an alarm, tells us when we enter these "invisible" zones.
"Today, in this zone where we are penalised, the alarm did not sound when we entered the zone. So I couldn't slow down in time.
"In spite of our explanations but especially in spite of the GPS system provider's admission of a problem with his equipment in our car today (something that can happen of course), the jury of stewards didn't want to know anything and decided, sitting loosely behind his desk with the only risk of spilling his coffee when we risk our lives every day in the car, to impose a penalty much higher than what this GPS 'bug' made us save ... About two to three seconds by being generous.
"I am a passionate person but I am above all a competitor.
"And today, if I am on a race like the Dakar, it is first of all to achieve what I am employed for: to sign a result that is worthy of the team's ambitions and worthy of my ambitions.
"And for that, there is no room for incompetence or incompetents."