The countdown to the Dakar 2009 goes on and the Repsol team, both car drivers and bike riders, are putting the finishing touches to their preparations for the most important event of the year. If it is the turn of the Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart team to do its final training sessions in their new cars on 15th December so as to be ready for the start of the Dakar on 3rd January in Buenos Aires, last week it was the turn of the Team Repsol KTM, with Marc Coma the lead rider, getting ready for battle in the first edition of the legendary African race which this time passes through Argentina and Chile.
Marc Coma, Jordi Viladoms, Jordi Arcarons and other members of the Team Repsol KTM, did some intense training on terrain that is very similar to that in the forthcoming Dakar in the deserts of Patagonia and Atacama. A sea of dunes, stony tracks, off-road, sandy zones, hard soil and rivers were some of the land that Marc Coma and Jordi Viladoms rode on, and always under the watchful eye of Jordi Arcarons. Gerard Farrés, still recovering so that he can take part in the race at 100% chose, in agreement with his team, not to attend this practice session and so have more days to rest and get better.
Taking advantage of the difficulties that are always present on the very eroded terrain that is found in Morocco, Arcarons prepared several different types of tests for each day, ones that the Repsol riders had to do using navigating equipment. The essence of these tests was to navigate on many types of land whilst having to put up with the low temperatures that were found last week by the Team Repsol KTM members, conditions that will be similar to those expected next month in Argentina and Chile, above all because the race takes the riders to heights of over 4 000 metres. The team also used its time to practice wheel changes and puncture repair so as to be able to do them faster – Arcarons once again keeping an eye on the riders – something that requires agility and calm, as they have to do this many times during a race and with the added pressure of losing time to their rivals.
A total of 1 500km. was covered by Coma and Viladoms on their bikes over the four days of tests done last week. The team set up their base camp in Arfoud, a town 70km. away from Er Rachidia and a setting where the Team Repsol KTM feels very much at home as they have many fans and friends in the zone. The training took place in and around Arfoud, Er Rachidia, Rissani, the Merzouga Erg dunes, Taouz and Foum-Zguid.
Marc Coma
“These were some really useful training sessions since we did quite a lot of kilometres in similar conditions to those we will find in the race. We rode on dunes as well as on stony, sandy tracks, and in rivers. We also spent some time on the navigation. Basically everything that it is more difficult to train at home. We fulfilled the objectives we set ourselves. At the physical level we also did some good work, as we did a lot of kilometres every day, spending a lot of time on the bikes which was the important thing.”
Jordi Viladoms
“The truth is that this was very positive because we trained for four days, doing a lot of kilometres, over 300 every day. We even did a stage from the Dakar, 400 kilometres long, which I think was really suitable for practice. Riding in the desert, going off-road and building our confidence on such tough ground is important. We always had one eye on the roadbook and we tried to keep our concentration which is what we were after in this training session and we were perfectly able to accomplish it.”
Jordi Arcarons
“The most important thing in these sessions is that we were able to do a lot of kilometres without having any physical problems, which right now is what most interests us. We tried to get the riders to do suitable work, without any accidents as there is a certain level of risk riding the bikes with just a few days to go before the race starts. We have also learnt some new things, in fact you always learn something. This year we have changed the make of tyres, and we could see how differently they behaved on the varied types of terrain. We were also able to practise the navigation which is also very important. The riders confirmed that they control everything associated with the navigation and this is how things turn out well. As they say around here, “haste kills”, and you have to know when to race and when not to.”
