Barreda, to Price: “We’re crazy, but it’s more”

Joan Barreda He continues to suffer, enduring the pain caused by a broken big toe on his left foot that he suffered in stage 2. He continues to fight and is very fast, as evidenced by his win in stage 4 on Wednesday. the pilot of White Tower is now on 4’30” from the leader, Sanders, stuck with a team of 6 or 7 pilots with options on everything with 10 episodes to go. Day by day, hoping that the pain will lessen as the days go by. For now, it’s up to him to find a short-term solution. He used the boot Quintanilla, another number, to keep the bandaged finger, but he needs to improve his sensation in changing gears, because he cannot directly affect with the finger. Finally, he chose to change the position of the gear lever to make going up a gear more comfortable.

Barreda is happy with his performance and wants to go stage by stage, thinking about this Thursday. it was his turn to open the track and that always meant wasting time. He will try to minimize the damage and refuses to play next to Quintanilla (he will follow him) to help him navigate, because if the Chilean reaches him, he prefers the pilot with the best feeling to run for a long time instead of changing- change .

“When you start playing like MotoGP, you lose time. In the end it’s better that one pulls and the other is behind. When you get tired at 100km, maybe if one feels good, he can start to- shoot. It’s necessary to make big runs, as much as you can”, he commented to MD and the other Spanish press present in the bivouac, emphasizing the need that he had to continue pulling to the maximum due to the enormous speed of all the top riders, especially the impetus of the youngest. “I told Price at the refueling ‘we’re crazy, but there’s more to it’.”

THE STAGE AND THE FINAL MESS THAT CHANGED THE WINNER BY A FEW MINUTES

“Ah, yes, because of Nacho, right? Well, in the end I’m super happy to be able to go out and see what I can push, even if the pain is somewhat manageable. It’s a bit like that now, there. is a couple of difficult points in the navigation and at some points a few riders got lost, one for each side, and there I kept a good rhythm and then I caught Kevin. I couldn’t push too much because I was running out we ran out of fuel to refuel. . It was also a sand stage, where consumption was very high. There I stayed behind him and after refueling I caught him and I felt better in the sand. There I pushed hard and, the truth is, I took the speed”.

THE PAIN OF THE LEFT FINGER

“In the morning, I notice a lot. Right now, at the mechanic, we changed a lever higher, because the problem is that when I put my foot to raise the gear, I have to push my knee forward. bit to get it in proper Now, this way it will go in a little better. In the end you’re looking for nonsense. I realized, at times, that on the finger of the motorcycle, with a little power, the gear goes better for me. And I take away a little and the truth is that I’m driving there. And then it’s like everything else. In the last part, it’s faster, you make fewer gear changes, and I feel better there”.

THE OBJECTIVES

“Whoa! There are only ten days left, and the Dakar is like that. Any rider, among the 12-15 who are there, can set a mark… But it’s crazy, the speed we all have there is very high. , without making navigational errors, everything is perfect, and that’s how it is. That’s the level of the Dakar, which has evolved over the years. The goal is there, at the level. After the race, let’s see how it is Going. We want no big drop or big loss. That’s the big goal. Then, if things go well, then perfect, and when something is worse, you have to take something positive and push forward”.

DRIVERS ARE SO FAST NOW

“Crazy? They used to say that about me, but now there are a lot of them. Right when refueling, I made a comment to Toby. I told him, ‘we’re crazy, but these are more so’. Like this, the rhyme. doesn’t stop climbing. We are there for everything. Worth, worth. Everything, level up”.

THE WINNER: IS IT THE FASTEST OR THE ONE WITH THE FEWEST ERRORS?

“Both. It’s useless not to make mistakes. Now you have to give gas. Okay, yes, there are 10 guys who put gas and 5 or 6 crash, but the 4 that stay and win. You have to have both ” .

MENTAL MANAGEMENT OF AN INJURY LIKE ONE TO YOUR FINGER

“It’s difficult. In the afternoon, at this time, it’s a day without much coverage, I go to the bus to connect and I talk to relatives. I look bad, I find it ugly. I am I’m in a lot of pain, my foot is pumping, it’s very swollen, I got an ice pack, I tied it to my foot and I slept like that all night, the swelling went down a lot when I was here, I tried the boot and it didn’t fit in, I had to get one of a size greater. The truth is that in the morning, when I finish the stage, it’s a sensation… that’s all that matters to me. You appreciate the simple fact of being able to continue above all else, whatever the result.”