Sanz fights to finish the stage
The second day of the 2020 Dakar proved to be challenging for GasGas rider Laia Sanz. The 367 km of the special was a marathon as the rider raced with impaired navigational equipment after an early crash. The rally continues for the rider.
The fastest female rider in the 2020 Dakar Rally had a tough stage today. She started 20th and before reaching the first waypoint, Sanz hit some stones while looking at the roadbook on her bike.
Thankfully, the rider was not injured and the GasGas RC 450F didn’t suffer any heavy damages. Unfortunately, she lost 20 minutes while she was fixing the damaged roadbook system and dropped to 49th. Back on the bike, she rode through the dunes picking up some places to finish the day on the 38th place.
“It was a difficult day for me today. It’s never good to crash during any stage but to crash at the start of a stage, and a stage that has tricky navigation wasn’t good. I broke part of my navigational equipment, so I had to slow down to really concentrate on the navigation and lost a lot of time.
Also, some riders passed me so there was a lot of dust. But it’s happened and more or less my bike and I are ok. In many ways, I am lucky because all the important parts of my bike are working. I can forget this stage now and look forward. I’m expecting a tough day tomorrow, as I will start further down the start order and most likely in a lot of dust again,” said Sanz.
The rules of the 2020 Dakar Rally offer only ten minutes of mechanical assistance without any help from her team to prepare for day three of the rally which will include a 427 km special stage around Neom. Thingers crossed for tomorrow.
Provisional results: Dakar Rally 2020 Stage 2
1. Ross Branch (KTM) 3:39:10
2. Sam Sunderland (KTM) 3:40:34 + 0:01:24
3. Pablo Quintanilla (Husqvarna) 3:41:31 + 0:02:21
38. Laia Sanz (GasGas) 4:23:02 + 0:43:52
Provisional standings: Dakar Rally 2020 (after stage 2)
1. Sam Sunderland (KTM) 7:05:22
2. Pablo Quintanilla (Husqvarna) 7:06:40 + 0:01:18
3. Kevin Benavides (Honda) 7:06:54 + 0:01:32
28. Laia Sanz (GasGas) 8:06:20 + 1:00:58