When Marc Coma crashed out of last year’s Dakar which he had dominated up to that moment, he told journaists in the Dakar hospital “we will be back here and try to win again” with tears in his eyes. One year later that time hs come. Marc Coma is stronger than ever and ready to make his defiant words come true. Now there are only 5 days left until the start of the Dakar 2008.
Eleven months have passed and the Repsol rider has been working hard to be the King of Africa again. For the time being he is the King of the World for the third consecutive year, which is not to be sniffed at as he wo the World Cross Country Championship in Egypt a few weeks ago but with the Dakar 2008 about to start he really wants to get to the heart of Africa, the shores of the Pink Lake first.
The XXX edition of the Dakar begins on 5th January in Lisbon, for the third consecutive year it willbegin in Lisbon and the Team Repsol KTM is confident that it can win again after wins for Nani Roma in 2004 and Marc Coma in 2006. Their preparation has been meticulous and their intense and constant work to make the team’s dreams come true will now be seen. The adventurers into the heart of Africa are Marc Coma, Jordi Viladoms and Gerard Farrés and they have to cross Portugal, Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal if they are to triumph.
This will be Coma’s 7th participation and he knows all the ins and outs of this rally: from the glory and taste of victory, 2 years ago, to the bitter experience of a retirement right at the end, last year, Twodays from the end he had to retireafter dominating the race. This year his idea is clear. After an immaculate season winning five dates in the World Championship, and his third world title, Marc Coma is without a doubt a clear favourite to win. Marc says that “we have programmed the whole season to reach the Dakar in topform. This race was always the overriding aim and so I think we are in good from, and dying to race. The race in store for us will be very tough and we will see how things go. It seems that the organisers have prepared a very tough route. Although I cannot ever remember an easy Dakar. What is true is that this year it wil be more demanding than others, firstly because it is the XXX anniversary and there willbe a lot of kilometres in Mauritania, the race will wear the riders down physicaly as well as technically and mechanically. The fact that it willbe tough means that we will have to work hard and suffer a lot on the bike.” >> Audio
Alongside him willbe Jordi Viladoms, who is 28 the eve of the race. The Spanish rider put in some good performances in the World Championship, finishing 3rd in the Rally Patagonia, in Chile, and 2nd in thel Rally Pharaohs in Egypt. For the Repsol rider it will be his third Dakar, and his plan is to alwaysbe alogside Marc Coma and to reach the final stage at the Pink Lake, something he has never done before. Jordi admits that “having raced the last three rallies this year was important for me, but I cannot forget that I have spent 6 months recovering from my injury and what we are trying to do is to get as fit as possible for the Dakar. It is plain to see that the plan at the start will not be for me to attack, but to be aware of the fact that I am not in tip top form and the most important thing is to try and finish the race. And, for the team, it willbe important not to leave Marc on his own, which is what happened last year. For me it is very important to finish the race even though I am the third rider in the team. The plan depends on what the race is like this year since I thnk it will be much tougher than the previous years. There are more stages in Mauritania and I think it willbe a race where it will be important not to rush and to withstand as much as possible. I think that the pace we have means we can win, that is if we manage to stay in the race to the end. It is clear that it is a race that you have to take calmly.” >> Audio
The third team member is Gerard Farrés, a 28 year old Spaniard in his 2nd Dakar. After racing with Marc Coma in the Rally Tunisia, where he was 4th, he is back in the Dakar with the Team Repsol KTM, where he has found a whole load of friends and for him it is like a big family that he has known for years. After being proclaimed World Motorallye Champion 2007, he is in great form, and in spit of being a rookie will go with just one aim: to gain experience. He has to learn all he can and reach the capital of Senegal. Farrés said that “I am very happy to get this chance. Racing with the best team around, it is a dream and a privilege. Having the experience of Marc Coma, Jordi Viladoms, as well as Arcarons, Duran, and all the other team members will let me learn a lot. The truth is that we have known each other for years and we are all going to work together in the same direction, helping each other as we know each other well and we know what each of us needs and where we can help out and when not to disturb each other. I thik we are very lucky to have that. I am in good form and physically I am very fit. However, many things come into play in the Dakar, such as the navigation and looking after the bike, two very important factors that I have to improve a lot. I have 6 weeks to work on these things a lot. The objective is clear: getting to Dakar but without any obligation to try and get a good result, I just have to learn and help the team out, that is Marc Coma yand Jordi Viladoms. So being able to race without any pressure is very lucky.”
To direct this three piece orchestr the team has Jordi Arcarons as captain. Arcarons has raced in the Dakar 16 times and as manager of the Team Repsol KTM he has been able to help Marc Coma and Nani Roma to win a race that has consumed half his life. His role is to help the riders day by day, telling them how to tackle each stage in the best possible way, even though the riders compete in many races he knows there is nothing like the Dakar. Arcarons recalls that “in a race of this type many factors come into play and not one of them can go wrong if you want to win. We are very concentrated on all these factors that make or break a race and make the best rider win. We know that Marc has some great skills on his side and we have to make him into the most consistent rider so that he can win. We know that he can win many stages, or do some great stages, but what we want in the end is for him to be the first to the Pink Lake. This year the team has three riders, and we think that the best option is to have Viladoms alongside Marc helping him out, as he needs somebody to protect his back. On the other hand Gerard Farrés is a rider with a futur who has to learn, and as part of that he can also help the other out, but we co not want to put pressure on him and try to count on him if he cannot be there when we need him, so he will have to do a calm race.”
Jordi also spoke about how this year’s race will be. “In Morocco a lot of riders will be filtered out because there are a lot of stones and sections with sand dunes as well as navigation and so the weakest will not survive and others who do not know the right pace to keep up for this type of long race. The difficulty in Mauritania is that the stages are very long and you have to be very fit as it will be very tiring. And the navigatio is ver difficult as there is a lot of off-road and you have to know exactly where to pass and to read the Road-book perfectly. For example in the zone of Atar and all the canyons there if you do not pass for the exact point nothing coincides with your notes and you can lose a lot of time. And there is the “camel grass”, over distances of up to 200Km. where you get really tired riding. The rider is standing and cannot sit and the consumptionis very high. The bikes suffer a lot too with the heat if there is wind behind you the engine is not cooled and with the soft sand the grass all around you have to keep opening the throttle which means that the bike is working under very extreme conditions. All this and at the same time the rider has to know exactly when to attack or to hang on in there. The race is never decided at the beginning, always at the end. However you have to be u wit the leaders day after day.”
