Barreda: “You have to live with the disease. No matter what happens”

Joan Barreda has no intention of throwing in the towel. This Tuesday he had to face his first day after breaking the big toe of his left foot. It won’t be easy. He asked his friend and caravan mate, Pablo Quintanilla, for a bigger boot so he could bandage it. However, in the first kilometers it was difficult for him to adapt, suffering every time he climbed with that leg. He had to stretch his foot a little to move his instep more than his toe. It took him a few hours, but he hopes that he dropped 11 minutes on stage winner Sanders and moved 10″37 behind the Australian overall, in fifth place. Joan is betting on continuing to endure the pain and attack when the terrain is greater. desirable after a few days on a route that does not allow him to have the confidence he needs to open the throttle like no other. Joan wants to keep fighting. Believe he that “anything can happen” in the remaining 11 episodes and will not give up on anything.

GEARSHIFT

“From the first moment it was very difficult for me to put the gears and there were even a few kilometers where I had to take off the gas to go up a gear because it was difficult for me to put the gear with the gas, it was more difficult and that’s where I suffered the most. When there are sections like this where you have the same gear, I stand and I do pretty well, but the problem is when I have to change”.

IT HURTS

“We tried to endure the pain but I’m happy because I didn’t hit my finger and the pain didn’t increase, but it was pretty much the same all day. It was good.”

DID NOT WASTE MUCH TIME

“We have options and tomorrow is an important stage with sand. Let’s see, anything can happen. We lost a bit of time, especially in the first part, which I was still a bit cautious and after refueling I pushed harder and kept a good race pace in the second part. Tomorrow (this Wednesday, on stage 4) let’s see if from the start I can have a little bit of a mentality to pull at a stronger pace, what happens is what always happens: the more you try to pull, the more risk you take and that’s where you have to find the balance.

INFILTRATIONS IN THE FOOT

“The subject of breakthroughs is not easy. You have to endure the pain, because the episodes are so time-consuming that no matter how much you get through, there are no things that can take a lot of time and remove the pain. You have to live with that, get used to it, try to compensate in some way. When it hurts the most is when I change tips. I’m trying to stretch my foot more and get my whole foot in and it’s easier for me there. Hopefully the pain will go down a little and I’ll be able to these days”.

POSSIBILITY OF WINNING DAKAR AND DUNES, IF NOTHING CHANGES

“I don’t know what to tell you. It depends on the sands. There are several sands in each of which you have to go down and up instead. I don’t know. Obviously these days are a field where I’m not comfortable. I’m more protective mentality than attacking because it’s not my field. But it’s very long, anything can happen every day and you have to keep racing. Tomorrow we have many more kilometers, anything can happen, pretty well We started placed… so we have to be positive. I was very happy when I finished the day able to continue the race and placed well”.

BANDAGES

“Yesterday we tested with bandages, even with one type of ID with one type of card. But it’s not easy because we’re already wearing the boots under a lot of pressure… I assembled a boot that Pablo Quintanilla gave me, which is one size bigger than me and this way I’ll stay wearing the bandage”.

ABANDONMENT OF BRABEC

“It’s sad that Ricky left. He is someone who has trained a lot and is very strong this year. For Honda, it’s a shame because it’s a bike that’s not sure it’s going to be useful for us, especially in a race as long as this year”.