The final outcome of the 2024 Dakar is getting closer and closer and there are several riders who could make history in the motorcycle category. While everything seems to be leaning towards Ricky Brabec, both Hero's Ross Branch and his teammate Adrien van Beveren have a good chance of winning their first Touareg trophy.
In the American's case, it would be the second after the one in 2020, but after coming close on other occasions, he hopes that with his advantage of more than ten minutes it can no longer be contained. With his Honda, he passed a very complex tenth special test, in which there was no shortage of surprises, but in which he held out to do “an excellent job” to get ever closer to Yanbu, where he hopes to certify his victory .
At the finish line, after his first stage win, he declared: “I don't know what Ross (Branch) was playing at when he restarted a little before his time at the restart after refueling. In any case, Adrien (van Beveren) he did a great job and I'm happy to get to the finish line.”
“I'm still 100%,” said the San Bernardino rider once he got off the bike, waiting to see what he can do in the next special test, characterized by rocks. “Tomorrow will be an important stage, with rocks, so I will try to save my energy and take it easy before the last stage.”
For his part, the Botswana rider gave “everything”, but some errors complicated his comeback, causing him to lose a few minutes. Which made the possibility of winning the Touareg trophy more complicated: “I gave everything, but I made some stupid mistakes that made me waste time. I had a lot of fun with Toby (Price) and Quinty (Pablo Quintanilla).”
“Ricky (Brabec) has raised the level and it will be difficult to reach him, but tomorrow it will still be a long day, so we will see,” explained Branch. “Nothing is decided until the checkered flag, so I will keep fighting and maybe luck will be on my side. Racing is like that, anything can happen.”
Third-placed Adrien van Beveren, who should have less chance of taking the win as he is around thirteen minutes behind the leader, declared that the result of the tenth special stage was very good for the Japanese manufacturer: “They told us that the stage would have been a little less difficult than yesterday's, but I have my doubts. This year the navigation is very demanding.”
“It was difficult and I got lost a lot. It was lucky to have Ricky with me, but in the end we got a little lost and maybe lost a minute,” said the Frenchman. “We'll see what happens, there are still two days in which to stay focused. In any case, finishing first with Ricky, having opened up so much track, is an excellent result, but it's starting to be tough physically and that's where we need to make the difference” .
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