Dakar 2020: A final mutilated stage as the best omen for Carlos Sainz

The Madrid must manage his 10-minute lead over Al-Attiyah and Peterhansel in the 166 km Qiddiyah road.

• Eleventh stage.
  

  One step away from the third Dakar
  

• Alonso
  

  A “super day” from behind the trucks
  

On Thursday, as soon as he got out of the car, exhausted after almost four and a half hours of special timed play, Carlos Sainz emptied a bottle of water over his head. At Haradh's goal, along with his inseparable Lucas Cruz, the double Dakar champion needed a break before his team confirmed the figures he now saves as a treasure: 10:17 on Nasser Al-Attiyah and 10:23 on Stephane Peterhansel What is 10 minutes in this race? Little thing, usually. What is 10 minutes before today's last stage? An unquestionable fortune.

On Thursday, when exactly 10 years of his first Dakar title were completed, Sainz again calmed down and silenced the whispering. «There is always tension and more when you approach the end. I've faced this other times … And gray hairs are good for something, ”he advanced with a half smile with which he also shook fatigue. At age 57, with 13 editions on his back, each silver streak of his hair keeps a history, glorious or tragic, of the Dakar.

For example, on January 16, 2010, when he raised his first Touareg trophy to the wide sky of Buenos Aires. It was just 132 seconds on Al-Attiyah, the narrowest margin in the history of this race. «It is almost impossible to repeat again. It would be like winning a rally for just a second, ”warned the Mini pilot to EL MUNDO before embarking on a flight to Saudi Arabia. Whether by the vagaries of the desert or by the stubbornness of its only two adversaries, this prediction is now in question.

Castera Warning

Only 166 kilometers remain, less than half of those planned, up to Qiddiyah, with the foot on the board and the oblique glimpse towards the time table. The last special was mutilated at the request of local authorities, because of the works of some gas pipelines in the immediate vicinity of Haradh. «The one that remains is the most complicated part of navigation. Many can be left for five or 10 minutes. Surely they will be lost, ”argued David Castera, head of a career who, in his first year in office, has once again privileged the virtues of adventurers. The new rules implemented by the French, co-pilot of Peterhansel in 2019, seem to have also played in favor of Sainz, guided by the firm compass of Cruz.

“A flat tire or a navigation error can delay you,” he warns, despite his immaculate record of these two weeks. Since he assumed command of the general in the third stage, only a moment of crisis in the loop around Wadi Al Dawasir, he faltered his calculations. It was the same day that Al-Attiyah and Peterhansel failed. “They are two tremendous enemies that do not give in and will continue to be thorough. Among other reasons because they play second place ».

The Frenchman, 13 times champion, seems to be content with the happiness of his teammate. And the Qatari prince, very irritated by the alleged advantages in the regulations of the Mini buggy on his Hilux 4×4, seems to throw in the towel. No one believes him, not even in the Toyota team. After 7,500 kilometers of fierce battle between canyons, rivers of stones, dusty roads and soft dunes, this Dakar can be resolved today among the anxieties of an ordinary asphalt rally.

13 km of exhibition

From behind, without the annoying nuisance this time to open track, Sainz will watch every step of his opponents. Each step through the mandatory waypoints It will deserve a small celebration. The coldness to manage the 10-minute advantage, avoiding any hint of panic, seems essential. Even when in Qiddiyah, a futuristic city designed for greater glory of the Saudi royal family, the clocks have already stopped. Then it will give way to a stretch of 13 kilometers designed for the exclusive delight of those who come to enjoy it live. Even if the times don't matter, any breakdown would prove fatal.

Those who have memory can look back, until the RAC Rally of 1998, when a crank left the Corolla de Sainz stranded 700 meters from the goal. The screams of Luis Moya evidenced the impotence of those who see a third world title vanish. Despite popular belief, Sainz considers himself a guy with a good star: “I always say that I hope my children have the same bad luck as me.” Today, the medium will make a hole in his agenda at McLaren to celebrate his father's third Dakar.