Nani Roma runner-up in Dakar, Nasser Al-Attiyah takes his sixth title

Nani Roma An unforgettable podium at the 2026 Dakar and a great second place that felt like a victory. Nasser Al-Attiyah is a six-time Dakar champion.

The Catalan pilot could not surprise as much as he did luciano benavides in view of brabecregaining a time of over three minutes on the 105km final stage, measured on the Red Sea coast. At the end of the movie, he achieves the closest victory in Dakar history by just two seconds.

This was caused by Brabec making a serious navigation error with 4km remaining. Nasser thus emerged fully prepared for this final stage. dakar. The distance between him and his pursuer, the Catalan player, is 16’02”. Nani Romathat required a lot of failures Forgerol You may have some choice. It seemed like only a mechanical failure could deprive them of the victory everyone thought they deserved. And it happened.

Al-Attiyah, one of the greatest people of all time

Nasser Al-Attiyah Met all predictions and added without hesitation The 6th Dakar made history. their With two stage wins, he equaled Vatanen and Peterhansel’s record of 50 wins. He is just two titles away from reaching a record eight with his own car. “Monsieur Dakar”.

Thus Nasser tied the next record. Carlos Sainz won the Dakar with four different brands. He won with a Volkswagen. mini, toyota, dacia, He needs six crowns to reach that milestone, but the Spaniard has won one with each signing.

With perfect race management, Nasser won the Dakar in true Al Attiyah style. From start to finish, he was waiting for that moment, like when he won the bronze medal in clay pigeon shooting at the 2012 London Olympics. Suddenly I was waiting for that moment…Pam! attack. In the car world, for a long time there was no interest in winning stages. This is because there is a big risk when the track opens the next day. The key was knowing when to do it correctly, and Qatar executed the plan admirably.

In particular, he lost a lot of time on the third stage, finishing 19th on that stage, and it seemed like he didn’t get off to a good start. The Qataris, angry at what had happened, locked themselves in their camper van. But it wasn’t over. He had the best “ace” because he had the best strategy throughout the rally. He did the most difficult thing. The aim was to maintain the trend of starting from the back in 10th place, the most important stage of the entire Dakar.the second half of the marathon stage.

He won Stage 6, held on in Stage 7, attacked again on Stage 8 and fended off the comeback attacks of Nai Roma and Carlos Sainz on the ninth day. However, the two Fords used tactics opposite to Nasser’s and were at odds with each other. Everyone marked stage 10 in red and Al Attiyah knew how to manage the race, giving up minimal time on stage 9 and attacking with all his might on that decisive day. And he did it perfectly.

Nani, anything more than second place: victory in life

Nani Roma tried to change the dynamics of the race to adopt the same strategy as Nasser, but it was too late. Aiming to win the Dakar was very difficult for me. He needed a “miracle” in the form of a catastrophic failure or mechanical failure by Qatar. However, Nasser’s greatest ally was patience, avoiding danger and problems and achieving only two stage wins. While teammates Loeb and Cristina Gutierrez suffered from serious problems with losing direction, Nessel ran the Dakar very cleanly, which was crucial to his victory.

It is often said that the second is the first loser. That we only remember the winners. But for the 2026 Dakar, all of this will be completely meaningless. Second place was also won by Nani Roma. Catalans can celebrate it in style, as if it were a victory. He was able to do so because the podium he achieved this Saturday could have been avoided the day before when he broke his right front suspension and ran out of gas after repairs. Laia Sanz made sure he arrived at the camp on time without any sanction such as being stripped of the podium.

But beyond the sport, we can celebrate what it means as an example of life. With her inherent optimism and struggle, Nani overcame bladder cancer, which she was diagnosed with in 2022, and earned her second chance at life. He exceeded doctors’ expectations and not only returned to his best physical and driving performance, he exceeded it. Nani revealed this in this issue. He declared that he achieved the “best stage” in his long and successful career during the 6th special. At that time, I left nothing undone on the sand dunes, jumping over and over again, hurting my lower back, but still creating a rhythm that filled my heart. And he admitted that he was at the best moment of his career.

This is how Nani achieved his fourth Dakar podium in a car. He placed 3rd in 2006, 2nd in 2012, and 2nd in 2019. That’s all apart from two Dakar titles: Motorcycles (2004) and Automobiles (2014). He could choose third or second place in the car. It didn’t work out for him. But don’t expect Nani to leave this Dakar with sadness. I warned him. His biggest victory came a few years ago against cancer. It helps “relativize everything.” And it doesn’t matter whether you win or not. What really matters is that he got a second chance at life and showed he wants to make the most of it. The important thing is that after such a hard blow, he resurfaced to find the best version of himself and showed that nothing is impossible if you give it your all and try harder. And one more thing: more work. And above all, talent. he never lost it. Nasser is a champion in the book. But Nani has also been one of them for a long time. Champion of life.