Roma, Esteve and Coma among the favourites

The Dakar 2003 gets green light
Telefónica Movistar Repsol Dakar 2003 Team presentation held today
 The Dakar 2003 has already started to warm-up engines. The Telefonica Movistar Repsol Dakar 2003 team presentation was held today in Madrid. This team represents the Spanish aspirations of winning this edition of the African raid. Joan Roma, Isidre Esteve and Marc Coma are the three riders making up the team that will be fighting for victory on official KTM bikes. The teams participation in this race renews the collaboration between Repsol and Telefónica Móviles with the aim of setting up a team capable of fighting for the victory of a race that, for the moment, is still an outstanding subject for the extraordinary record of Spanish motorcycling. The overall feeling during the presentation ceremony was excitement and highest hopes for a win. Joan Roma is the teams trailblazer. The Catalan rider is a security with regard to Africa and his usual speed together with his remarkable experience turn him into one of the most outstanding men in the world of raids. We are really looking forward to this race explains Joan Roma as everybody knows, I was very close to victory last year, but the Dakar is a very hard race and we didnt have a reward for all the efforts we made. This year we come back with new excitement, cautious, because this years edition will have a lot of unknown sections and sure to be counting on the best bike. Im really looking forward to being in Africa. Isidre Esteve will be joining him once again on a KTM. He has been through bad times after braking his left arm during practice, forcing him to undergo surgery but hopes that the time lost with recovery will not influence his performance. This is my sixth participation and Im very pleased because we have everything we need to win. Despite the accident I suffered some weeks ago I feel well and excited. We will work together as a good team and fight hard. This is something everyone can be sure of. Marc Coma is the third man. This will be his second Dakar. His task will be to support his team-mates while gaining experience, a fundamental factor for a race as the Dakar. This is like a dream he says Im really looking forward to starting my second participation. I wasnt able to finish the first one, but the experience helped me to open the doors of such an important team as this. My goal is to help my team-mates as much as possible, despite having different bikes ‘ The race will start on January 1st in Marseille and will then move on to Spain. On January 2nd there will be a special stage in Castellón and on January 3rd the competitors will board for Africa in Valencia.