Sunderland goes for glory
Brit is fully recovered and ready to fight for his second title
Britain’s great hope for Dakar glory, Sam Sunderland, says he’s ready and waiting for the start of the 2019 race which kicks off on January 6. The 29-year-old, who became the first Brit ever to win the arduous race in 2017, believes this year’s race will pose a whole host of new challenges for competitors.
In a change from previous runnings, this year’s event is taking place exclusively in Peru and will feature close to 2000 miles of timed special stages, 70% of which are sand. That means that not only will the riding be incredibly hard and tiring, but tactics will be paramount. Sunderland told MCN: “I’ve been working my ass off over the last few months and I’m ready and feeling strong. I just want to get going. This year’s race is all in Peru so ten days all in the dunes, which is going to be physically tough and there will be a lot of strategy.” Racing in sand means that apart from the rider opening the stage, everyone else will have tracks to follow and that means chasing riders have the potential to make up time on the guys in front. To counteract the advantage or disadvantage of opening a stage, the race organisers have played with the format in a bid to keep things open and equal. On the opening day, riders will start in reverse order, meaning the fast riders will set off last. On stage two, the cars will set off before the bikes and there will be mass starts in each class on stages five and nine. The eighth stage will see the top ten bikes, top ten cars and top five trucks all set off at the same time. There is also a Marathon stage where riders do not return to the bivouac at the end of the stage. That means they will not receive any outside assistance from their respective teams. Speaking about the additional challenges, Sunderland said: “It’s going to be really physical, really tough and with a lot of variables. We’re just going to have to see how things play out and take it one day at a time. I’m expecting a tough race and because there are a lot of unknowns, the outcome will come down to one or two key moments. It’ll be down to where
‘You need to choose when to attack’
the hard navigation falls and whether you are opening the stage or able to follow because there will be the potential to make up a lot of time. There is also a lot of Fesh Fesh (deep sand with the consistency of talcum powder that is notoriously difficult to ride), in south Peru which is never fun.”
Despite the additional challenges and the fact that the race is going to be so demanding due to the amount of time riding in big sand dunes, one thing Sunderland remains adamant about is the need to be pushing as hard as possible. As far as he’s concerned, Dakar 2019 will not be about playing it safe. “The race is so intense with a lot of fast guys; you only have to look at my team which includes the last three Dakar winners. Everyone is twisting the throttle.
“You can’t afford to play the safe game. When Marc Coma and Cyril Despres were dominating the race they would play it safe because they knew that even if a young guy came out and won a stage by five minutes, there was a 90% chance that he wasn’t going to make it to the finish. Whereas now there are probably ten guys that can ride really fast and there is a good chance that three or four of them will finish. So if you play the safe game you won’t even be on the podium, you probably won’t even be top five. I think the level is a lot closer so you need to push and try to pick your moments to attack, but that is not always easy.”