Dakar Rally 2022: Motorcycles promise the most exciting end of the Dakar

Source : https://www.marca.com

C with the general car almost decided -except for catastrophe- in favor of a Nasser Al-Attiyah that despite the five-minute penalty still has a lot of advantage, the excitement of the Dakar 2022 is, without a doubt, in the motorcycles. The six drivers who are barely 10 minutes apart (practically nothing in the almost 900 competitive kilometers that remain) start with an advantage. Walkner (KTM), Sunderland (GasGas), Van Beveren (Yamaha), Quintanilla (Honda), Kevin Benavides (KTM) and Joan Barreda (Honda)

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Virtually all the favorites are still in the fight , except Ross Branch and Sanders (both for falls) and Dogwood, Brabec and Price (who have to lift more than half an hour) in the absence of the two queen stages of the Dakar, since the last one, of 164 kilometers, would only be key if it were reached with seconds to spare, a scenario that cannot be ruled out either.

Everything (and everyone) counts

At this point of the race, any detail can be key. For example, the starting position for the final two days. In today’s Sunderland starts from much further back than the rest of the favorites, so he should be the maximum candidate for victory … but, in exchange, he could have the sword of Damocles on his head facing 11 am, which is supposed to be infernal.

The movements of pieces of each team can also be key, including secondary. In the case of KTM play with a certain advantage, since has wildcards for the Husqvarna (there are none in position to win the race) to focus on fighting through the stages and free their two main pieces (Walkner on KTM and Sunderland on GasGas) from the handicap of opening the track … Or they can try to conserve to force the Hondas out front on the stage 11, which aims to be the truly decisive one. Both Ruben Faría and Jordi Viladoms , ‘team managers’ of Honda and KTM respectively, will have to know how to move their pieces.

And facing the last day, this year there is an important change that may influence the strategy: the starting order will be identical to the of the rest of the stages and not as had been done previously, in reverse order to the general one, so that the leader could have the support of a colleague in case a problem arose. Now it will be different and everyone will have to give their maximum perhaps until the last kilometer, in one of the most intense Dakar finals in memory

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