In the afternoon, it was already cold and after analyzing everything that happened on stage 2 with the engineers. Carlos Sainz He spoke to Spanish reporters at the bivouac. dakarin AlUlatalked about the complicated day he had to face this Monday. Since we have only passed the second stage, Carlos SainzDespite suffering two punctures on a difficult and rocky day and losing more time than expected, he still has a 6 minute 35 second lead over the new leader. Nasser Al-Attiyah.

According to the theory, the world still remains, and this difference, in most races, 5,000km There are time limits, it’s very strict and anything can happen, but it’s a distance that can be bridged. In fact, Sainz himself admits this. However, it does not prevent him from discomfort and does not change his appearance. Not because of what happened on stage, but rather because Sainz had high hopes for the strategy he had developed with his co-pilot. lucas cruz. He decided on his starting position on Stage 1 and followed a plan to avoid opening the track at all costs by starting at the front on Stage 2. To avoid risks, we wanted to remain cautious and stay there among the best teams in 6th or 7th place without winning any stages in the first few days. And most importantly, career inertia keeps you on a path that seems right on paper.

carlos I already warned you a few days ago that opening the track on stage 4 could mean losing more time than if you had to start at the front. stage 5because the day is shorter than the previous day. This idea may be the key to understanding its purpose.

But this Monday’s result changed his entire career.because in stage 3 he was left behind and at a 6 minute disadvantage, he couldn’t afford to lose any more time and needed to make up for it. And if he were to attack, it would be exactly what he wanted to avoid. Ignore the line of bikes on stage 4 and take the lead during the first part of the marathon stage and at the end of the day without any mechanical support. Opening the track means taking more risks and increasing the chance of failure. Carlos explained:

“If I start tomorrow (in Stage 3) from where I normally would start from last place, the dynamics will change.”“Normally I keep running in front, but the next day is already the first part of the marathon stage (Stage 4), so I have to start from the front. It’s not good… But the next day (Stage 5) I recover, but then the day before Riyadh (Stage 6) is a very complicated stage. I don’t want to be too far in front that day either,” he commented in response to a question from the MD.

“This will change your legs, yes.” Added to this newspaper. “I have no choice…”He continued before sighing. “That’s the reality. We have to look ahead. There are still many days left and a lot can happen. We are starting with a race,” he added.

“We knew where the stones were so abundant, so it was a stage, and obviously there was a lot of misplacement (in a good way). But of course, if you don’t click on those four or five minutes and delete them, they’re still five or six minutes and it looks like a different movie, but that’s what it is.”

Carlos also has other possibilities. Give yourself a little more time on stage 3 to get back to the correct race dynamics. The MD presented him with that option. “I don’t know, I don’t know, I need to sleep, but of course you’ll start to distance yourself from the leader a little…right?”he answered.

Stage overview

“We already knew there would be a lot of stones in the stage, so that’s what happened. In the end, we also had two punctures and a small mistake. We lost more than we expected, but that’s the reality. And from now on, we will try to recover if we can. Next, of course, are the marathon stages (4 and 5) without bikes (the routes are different, so there are no traces of bikes on the cars). I don’t know, I will do it.” “We’ll be a little bit off the starting stage position we wanted, so let’s see what happens to us.”

It only takes 6 minutes

“Yes, we still have the same drivers and the same favorites as we had two days before we started.”

punk. Is it a tire problem or just bad luck?

“I don’t know. Our Fords had a lot of flat tires. We had seven cars, 20 or something close to flat tires. But that’s it.”

How to attack and take risks?

“No, we have to keep doing the same thing. We have a lot of races left. We have to stay safe and obviously try not to lose any more time and try to get to the front.”