Joan Barreda has been racing with a broken collarbone for five stages now. How do you manage the pain? Unfortunately it is not the first time, indeed the Spaniard of the Monster Energy HRC Rally Team has learned to live with pain in almost all of his Dakars.
Miguel Angel Dominguez, the physiotherapist of the Honda team, confirms this. “Joan’s level of endurance and all pilots in general is incredible. The question arises? Are these guys humans or Martians?”
Born in 1970, Miguel Angel – osteopath, sports trainer and chiropractor, worked in Formula 1 with Pedro de la Rosa, in MotoGP with Xavi Vierge, with Udinese Calcio and then in the Dakar with Laia Sanz, Nasser Al-Attiyah, four years old with the Peugeot team with Carlos Sainz, Stephane Peterhansel, Sebastian Loeb and Cyril Despres and finally with the Monster Energy Honda Team with Joan Barreda, Ricky Brabec, Nacho Cornejo and Pablo Quintanilla.
Mechanic of the pilots, in the field the physiotherapist is one of the closest people to the pilot, carrying out a very important function of support, also psychological.
How do you see Joan Barreda and in general these guys who, despite the lessons, manage to stay 6-7 and 8 hours on the bike in stages even 700 km in the special 7 or 830 km in stage 8?
“Jokingly, I always tell Joan that he was born without the pain chip. Her pain threshold is very high.”
Joan has been injured many times, not least the fractured collarbone following the fall in stage 5 …
“Unfortunately, when you fall on the bike, the collarbone is always at risk. Not only that, Barreda was already driving with inflammation of the entire muscle band of his right wrist. Despite the pain he is making a race on the attack and now he is 6 ° of the general at 10’57 “from the leader Matthias Walkner”.
# 88 Monster Energy Honda Team 2022: Joan Barreda Bort
Photo by: Honda Racing
Can pain resistance be trained?
“The level of endurance changes a lot from person to person. We generally measure pain when we talk to the pilot, with a level from 1 to 10. Joan has the most pain tolerance. It’s amazing. On a scale of 1 to 10, when a normal person is at 10, Joan is at 2. I think it is something that trains even if you have to consider with you never feel well when you drive with pain. Both Pablo (Quintanilla) and Joan are used to it. They never stop “.
What are the main muscles involved when a rider is on a motorcycle?
“Work the whole body, starting with the legs, arms, shoulders and back. It is a constant effort all the time, both in the dunes and in the rocks. Imagine rowing for 450 km. To this you can compare, only that instead of an oar you have a powerful Honda 450 Rally “.
What kind of work do you do on the drivers when they return to the bivouac at the end of the stage?
“The first thing is to take the camel bag and check how much they drank, usually from 3 to 6 liters per leg of water and mineral salts. At the bivouac we immediately give the pilot a milk shake with carbohydrate and protein supplements. After the shower and lunch, we work the whole body, for about 2 hours per rider. With Joan, first ice on the shoulder and then we work with the Indiba machine (a cell regenerator) with or without temperature. Then a massage and finally stretching. In the case of Quintanilla we make ice at the ankles. After the accident of 2019 (when the victory was played with Price in Peru, he fell at the last stage breaking his two ankles and still finished the special by finishing 4th of the general). Pablo has metal plates that limit mobility at 40%, so we treat this part a lot to improve mobilization “.
Marathon runner, Miguel Angel also loves to push his physique to the limit. On days off at the bivouac, it runs every morning. His passion is Marathone de sable in Morocco, a marathon in the dunes of Merzouga only for tough guys.
# 7 Monster Energy Honda Team 2022: Pablo Quintanilla
Photo by: Honda Racing
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