Nani Roma returns to Dakar after cancer: “I have to keep applauding the health care workers every day at eight o’clock”

In March 2022, Nani Roma (February 17, 1972, Folgueroles) was diagnosed with bladder cancer. He, the only Spanish driver to achieve success in the Dakar in the car category (2014) and motorcycle category (2004, in what was the first Spanish victory in the then African race), participated in up to 26 dakars, one person. fans see him as a super hero, capable of winning the game in the most dangerous deserts, risking his life by car, but above all, by motorcycle first. Since 1998, Nani Roma has always been at the hardest event on the planet. But in 2023 he had to be absent after fighting the most important battle of his life. He won and, after that, a train arrived that he couldn’t miss: Ford’s official project for Dakar 2024, long-term, with the first year of study to create a winning car starting in 2025.

Nani Roma will compete in his 27th Dakar starting in January 2024, when it will be 20 years since his victory in a car and 10 years since his victory on a motorcycle. Malcolm Wilson, the legendary boss of the M-Sport rally structure, called him to full recovery, something that Nani considers a last “shot” of energy that has been the key to returning to his old life. Nani acknowledged this Friday during the presentation of Ford’s project for Dakar 2024, with his co-driver Àlex Haro, that he believes he will never compete again. For this, he would like to thank Ford for his blind trust and for having no doubts that Nani will return to his highest level after his toughest match.

“The training was very difficult at the beginning. It leaves you very far from where you are physically. The whole chemotherapy process, the surgery, is something you have to live with, really. We all have acquaintances who suffer or have suffered from this disease. But you can’t figure it out until you suffer it and it’s very complicated. And you will stay very low. It took me a lot to train hard again and recover properly every day. We made it. But I also think that a project like this, when you’re in full recovery and someone like Malcolm (Wilson) comes and calls you to rely on you for a project like this, is a shot of energy. Because it’s true that I thought my career was over, not my life, and I was going to do something else. And that they have you again is incredible,” said Nani Roma excitedly. But he was even more happy when his friend, Dr. Xavier Mir, wanted to interrupt the press conference to make an important clarification.

“If you agree, can I intervene for a moment? You know I’m a traumatologist, but I want to be more specific. Because I always say: Nani is a unique case. He had to fight a very serious illness and the thought of competing at this level was unthinkable. All the doctors and oncologists in Vall d’Hebron saw it as unthinkable. And here it is,” he said.

“I want to convey that it is understood that this is not a fracture of the femur or wrist,” Mir continued. “It’s a serious illness that affects your body and the effort he made to get here is very important. And even I was surprised. Sometimes it can be interpreted as ‘well, it wasn’t that much’. It is not reality . It was a lot but he made an effort, and the doctors got better, the medicine was fine, his body was that of a professional athlete… but the message was that he wasn’t here because it wasn’t that big of a deal. His thing was a lot , but he is still here,” concluded the famous doctor, in front of a group of press who could not stop applauding.

In this sense, Nani emphasized that in the important 9-day test they did in Morocco to test the Ford Raptor T1+ where he will race to improve its performance, comfort and make it a more durable car, Nani is the first worried. his state of form and to see if he can withstand the level of physical demands that the Dakar requires.

“The truth is that I have to thank Ford and the Wilson family (from M-Sport), because they never doubted me because of what I went through. When I arrived in Morocco for the test, I was really like: ‘well “Let’s see how I’m doing. Let’s see how I feel and what my body reacts. We started doing long days of testing, 500 kilometers, and we had a problem with the air conditioner and we went 4 days without air. I put my body to the limit. And I stayed very calm on a personal level. And then we continued working with the car until there was a moment when we stopped. Because it doesn’t make much more sense,” he expressed.

Acknowledgment and gratitude to health personnel

Nani would like to thank Ford and M-Sport for the opportunity they gave him at a very difficult time in his life. But above all, his best message is dedicated to health workers, saying their importance.

“Thank you for my life in the world of sports. I tried to apply what I was doing to prepare for a race, with an illness. Here is Dr. Mir, who does not treat these diseases but his colleagues do. And they were a little surprised, they thought it was a little unconscionable to try to treat something like he did. But I took it like I was preparing for a race. I tried to learn from the professionals, that we have a lot to thank the doctors of Vall d’Hebron,” he commented.

“In general, we have a very complex system and those who endure it are the people: doctors, nurses. It is very important that we are clear that thanks to the people who spend hours and hours saving lives, taking care of us , I had I’ve been lucky. I should be there every day at 8:00 pm applauding (the healthcare workers), like during the Covid-19. That’s how I should be. Because what these people are doing in a vocational work is outrageous “And what they do is not easy. I want to thank them,” he concluded.

Dakar 2024 Goals

Although Ford debuted in a World Cup event in the last Morocco Rally on its first podium, with Nani 3rd, the Catalan wanted to make it clear that his main goal was not to get a result. The logical thing is to think that Nani Roma can aim for the Dakar podium. Through the experience, hands, of his great co-pilot, the ‘compass of Òdena, Àlex Haro. And also because Ford is a great brand. But he clarified that this first course his goal is to learn as much as possible for the creation of the Dakar 2025 car, which will be “completely new and has nothing to do with the current one.”

For this year, Nani focused on making the car as stable and reliable as possible and that the whole team, with a lot of experience in rallies but not in raids, learned about the discipline and all the needs of the car in this race. The improvement of the current Ford Raptor is remarkable. It’s not the fastest, but it’s very stable. That allowed him to have fewer problems in Morocco and reach the podium. And that will be his strength in Dakar 2023, where Nani Roma will once again smile more than ever. Once again, he will go to the Dakar after the hardest race of his life.