Dakar 2004. Team´s diary

Back to civilisation
Dakar is close, very close, but we are scared, we don’t want to let it slip away. There have already been so many unpleasant surprises in Nani’s sport history that the whole team remains breathless when we see the least sign of a problem. Tonight we are in Nouakchott, capital of Mauritania, with no doubt one of the poorest countries in Africa. Chaos rules in this city, a chaos that is well born by its citizens but much too anarchic for Europeans. We arrived yesterday from Ayoun El Atrous, where we left our riders in the morning. Last night they had to stand a marathon stage, that means, that once again, they had to spend the night alone at the bivouac, without assistance and solving the mechanical problems they might have on their bikes all by themselves. But not all of our riders were able to get on their bikes to take the start of the special that would take them to Tidjikja, only two of them could. On Wednesday when our riders arrived at the bivouac in Ayoun El Atrous, we saw one of the saddest sides of the Dakar from very close, the face of a rider that knows that his race has finished here and that he won’t get to Dakar. While Nani arrived strengthening his leading position in the overall standings, his team-mate and squire Marc Coma, the one who helped Nani in some occasions during this Dakar, suffered a serious fall and arrived really bruised at the end of the stage. His bleeding face, marked by a branch, his painful gesture, brought no good news. Good old Marc crashed in a fast descent before the refuelling and was later assisted by the South African Alfie Cox, who found him on the ground when he was passing that point. Marc didn’t know where he was and didn’t recognise Alfie either, but after recovering slightly, he got back on his bike and went on until the refuelling. We were there, waiting for him – we had already been informed about the incident – and when he arrived, he told Jordi Arcarons that his wrist was hurting, and his head as well. That’s the point were we got separated and we headed to the end of the stage, in Ayoun El Atrous, knowing that the race had possibly finished for Marc. However, Marc arrived on his bike, all by himself at the stage finish. But the strong blow on the wrist he had already injured last year at the Dakar, and the pain in his right shoulder and the head, forced him to give up the following day, when he got up in the morning. The Dakar had finished for Marc. His tears the evening before, while he was taping his statements for the radio broadcasters already showed that there would be no happy end for the youngest member of the team. No, it hadn’t been an easy stage for anybody; apart from Marc’s serious fall, Isidre and Nani ended up on the ground as well, and in the case of Nani twice, one of them avoiding a cow that crossed his way. Fortunately, what in other occasions had meant the finish of Nani fast race to the victory in Dakar, this time, maybe due to what others call the luck of the champion, it didn’t happen, and Nani is still leading the race after reaching Nouakchott. Nouakchott will be the last city we will see before reaching Dakar tomorrow. We will leave Mauritania and enter Senegal. The end of the race is close and although the whole team is trying to keep calm and to avoid too much optimism and euphoria, the truth is that we all have the arrival in Dakar in our minds with Nani as the winner. Somehow we could say that we are slowly getting back to civilisation, to the most daily life we are used to. Yesterday, since it was a marathon stage, both T5 assistance cars drove directly to Nouakchott, where we spend the night at a small lodge after 900 kilometres filled with dangers, with camels, donkeys, dogs and cows crossing, holes and crashed cars on the roadside and other surprises offered by the African asphalt. We met a group of Spaniards, some of them doctors, travelling to Guinea in a humanitarian mission with a convoy of trucks carrying medicines, food and different tools. Brave people that deserve our admiration for their efforts and sacrifice. Last night we also enjoyed a shower and dinner at a table, without sand and wind; we even had a menu to choose from and every one of us could order whatever he wanted. The truth is that it was such a sudden luxury that some of us even had digestion problems. Tomorrow, the dream of Nani, Repsol and the whole team, of all those who have supported and trusted Nani, will be closer, a little bit closer.