3
WHEN VA N
BEVERAN
CRASHED OUT
WITH THE WEIGHT of Yamaha’s
first victory in 20 years weighing
on his shoulders, French rider
Adrien van Beveren had, as he
said, “everything to play for”.
His comment came during the
cancelled Stage nine having
led the Rally for four of the
previous five days, though with
a relatively small buffer of just 22
seconds over his nearest rival.But it was just three kilometres
beforethe finish of the 795 km
Stage 10 when the 27-year-old
suffered a high-speed crash
on his WR4 50 F. Determined
not to give up his lead, he got
to his feet, remounted his bike
and rode on for 1 00 or so metres
before stopping, conceding he
was unable to go on.
“I’m completely groggy and
very probably injured,” he was
reported saying at the time. It
would later transpire that hesuffered a broken collarbone, an
injured thorax, two broken ribs
and a bruised lung.
Yamalube Yamaha Official
Rally Team director Alexandre
Kowalski said, “Adrien is in
much better spirits today, but
still extremely disappointed for
losing the chance to continue
the race and his battle for the
coveted Dakar victory.
“It’s been a heavy blow for all
themembersof ourteam butwe
are all standing behind Adrien”. 4WHENFOUR
BLOKES LOST A
COMBINED TIME
OF 1 95 MINUTES
ADRIAN VAN BEVEREN’Scrash wasn’t
the only dramatic turn of events to
occur during the long Stage 10. Four of
the six leading riders lost huge amounts
of time when they lost their way in
search of a hard-to-find waypoint.
In temperatures nudging the high
4 0s, Honda men Kevin Benavides and
Joan Barreda Bort and KTM teammates
Toby Price and Antoine Méo all lost an
average of 50 minutes when they got
lost in a river bed at the 150 km mark.
“It’s one of those days you want to
forget,” Price said that night, having
dropped to fifth overall, 50m18s behind
his teammate and new Rally leader
Matthias Walkner. “The notes all
seemed to say 150km and the rio we got
into started at 150km. We thought we’d
got it right, but obviously not.
“I don’t’ know, the roadbook is a bit
average at the moment but that’s the
way it is. For us it’s pretty much done- we’ll just keep plugging away each
day and see what happens. You never
know,butit’snotlookingtoogood.
“That’sthewayitis.I’vejustgotto
tryandseewhattherestoftheweek
willbringnow.Itwasabitofahotone
andIdidn’thavemuchfluid,soI’mabit
drainedanddehydrated.”
So close, yet so far. Adrien van
Beveren lead more stages than
any of his rivals but crashed out
- heavily – of winning contention
Four attempts, two finishes
and one hard-fought win5
WHEN MATTHIAS WA L KNER
BELIEVED IN HIMSELF
MAT THIAS WALKNER WAS the sixth rider away
from the start line on that dramatic and disastrous
Stage 10 of the 2018 Dakar Rally, with a 6m35s deficit
on van Beveren. So when the tracks of all five of
the riders ahead of him disappeared from sight, he
began to doubt he’d read the roadbook correctly.
“I carried on and trusted myself,” he said. “It was
a big relief when I saw the waypoint validated and I
reached the finish.”
The 31-year-old’s self-belief paid off. In fact it
probably earned him the most coveted trophy in
motorcycle off-road racing, because when he found
himself celebrating his first stage win of the 2018
event, he also found himself at the top of the overall
standings for the first time, and with a commanding
lead of 39m21s over the injured factory Honda rider
Joan Barreda Bort.
“It’s always good to take a stage win, but never
nice when one of your opponents crashes out.
I hope Adrien (van Beveren) is okay,” he said at
the conclusion of the game-changing stage. “I
knew today how important it would be to bide
my time and concentrate on finding each
waypoint successfully.
“Better to spend a few secondsgetting things
right than pushing on and wasting a lot more time
after getting lost.”“I carried on and trusted myself.
It was a big relief when I saw
the waypoint validated and
reached the finish”