Loren Santorino abandons Dakar after fourth crash in two days

Pilot from Salamanca lorenzo santorino Sherco’s big fortune at the last Dakar suffered a very hard fall on stage 2 and was rescued by helicopter. A spokesperson said that “Lorenzo is in good spirits”, but luckily for Lorenzo the worst that could have happened was that his bike was destroyed.

The native of Guijuelo, who had recently injured the toe of his right foot and had to undergo surgery and was left without running in Sherco, fell four times in two days, three times on stage one and once on stage two, and was forced to give up after already passing the 48-degree PK284 in 13 minutes and 35 seconds.

Lauren, who is ranked 6th in the 2021 edition, already had to withdraw on Stage 2 in 2025 due to a mechanical problem while chasing the top five.

Santorino’s current problems in the Dakar already began on Sunday’s stage one, when he lost confidence in his riding after suffering three falls, and was also forced to pay the price for not being able to film after injuring his right leg at the last minute and undergoing surgery.

This is how he described stage 1 this Sunday. “I fell at the 10km mark and was trying to start carefully and riding calmly, but I fell from the front in a slightly faster river and there were no consequences, but the airbag deployed and my goggles got clogged with sand…I lost a minute even though I cleaned them well.”

“Cornejo caught up with me at 50km and we ran together until 90km, where the track was pretty broken up because of the rain, it was really fast and there was a lot of dust. I was 30 seconds behind trying to get the bonus, but I couldn’t do it because of the dust. I stayed at that distance until 150km, then I narrowed the course a little bit. I tried to put on the road book and after 300 meters I got caught in a plate and completely turned the bike around, although I didn’t want to fall again as I had already used up two airbag ejections. ”

“I don’t really react to the bike. I’m riding as a passenger. In the technical areas my mind does it, but my body doesn’t. I don’t ride with confidence. In the fast areas I was more or less fine, going to the fuel station, following the line, navigating well. There’s no point in being in physical mode,” he commented.