More sand and harder. This is how he presents himself Dakar 2024. The director of the world’s hardest test made it clear to MD: “The dunes will be difficult, but that’s how it is.” Dakar. I’m sure the competitors will find the course difficult.” And in addition, he warned about the more complex of road book which the competitors have to follow to find all the crossing points on the course. A total adventure of 14 days of racing, including 12 stagesone of them is double. Competitors will travel 7,891 km, 4,727 of them special.
Last year it was said that there will be more sand, entering the race in the dreaded desert of Empty Quarter, one of the largest and most unexplored deserts in the world. However, the mileage of the dune-filled stages is short. Competitors requested more hardness and longer days on the sand after the first days of the race were more complicated due to many difficult kilometers of stones in the first stages and rain. And this year, the organization listened to everyone with a more difficult route, with more popularity in the Empty Quarter arena, where the great novelty will be held: the new stage 48 hour chrono.
What is the 48-hour stage of the Dakar time trial?
This stage of The 48 hours will consist of two parts. On the first day, competitors must advance as far as they can by 4:00 pm, where they had to stop and go to one of the 7 or 8 special camps prepared for the occasion along the route. And the next day, they all have to continue their march to reach the goal. In the special camps, the participants will not have help from their teams and will repair their cars themselves. Furthermore, they will not enjoy many comforts. They will have only the basics: a sleeping bag, a tent, some sort of military ration food and little else.
Prologue: January 5 Al Ula-Al Ula
Link, 130 km – Special, 28 km: The prologue stage is different from previous years. There is no closed ground circuit. It will be a Dakar stage format concentrated in only 28 kilometers, with hidden dangers typical of any atapa but with less mileage. Competitors have to ride the slalom between rocks, on sandy tracks and off-road sections.
Stage 1: January 6 Al AlUla-Al Henakiyah
Link, 130 km – Special, 28 km: In recent years, it has been clear that in Saudi Arabia, the rigidity has been enormous from day one. Especially because of the big rock sections that made it complicated for everyone. In this case, the pilots will start the Dakar 2024 winding between the volcanoes, with all shades of color, from the weakest to the brightest, in a landscape never seen before in Dakar.
Stage 2: January 7 Al Henakiyah- Al Duwadimi
Link, 192 km – Special, 463 km: Pilots will encounter the first sand dunes along about 30 km. Following this, there will be sections where the fastest people can express their potential.
Stage 3: January 8 Al Duwadimi-Al Salamiya
Link, 295 km – Special, 438 km: Pay attention to this stage. This will be the first leg of the marathon. That is, at the end of this phase, the pilots will not have the mechanical assistance of their teams and assistance. They have to fix everything between them, with their hands. So, on a day where it is very important to take care of the mechanics of the cars, it is even more remarkable that it includes one of the great nightmares for everyone in recent Dakars: stones. There will be stretches of rocks but also large expanses of sand and chains of sand.
Stage 4: January 9 Al Salamiya-Al-Hofuf
Link, 332 km – Special, 299 km: Second part of the marathon stage. It is another long stage to reach Al Hofuf, located in the middle of an immense oasis with three million date palms. The difficulty of this day will be less because of the demands of the marathon and so that they can gain strength for the 48-hour time trial that is yet to come.
Stage 5: January 10 Al-Hofuf- Shubaytah
Link, 527 km – Special, 118 km: The Dakar caravan returned to the sea of sands of the Empty Quarter, one of the largest deserts in the world. The main objective is to avoid the dunes as soon as possible to reach the day camp.
CHRONO STAGE 48 HOURS, stage 6: January 11-12 Shubaytah-Shubaytah
Link, 209 km – Special, 572 km: This is the great novelty. Crown jewel. “It will be amazing,” David Castera, Dakar director, told Mundo Deportivo.
This is the 48 hour time trial. A two-day stage, where competitors must stop their cars when the clock strikes 4:00 pm on the first day. There, they must go to one of several special bivouacs located along the route. Upon arrival, they have no mechanical assistance and must repair their vehicles. Furthermore, they will not be able to check their positions in the classification and start blindly again, not knowing how the stage went and what is the condition of their rivals, who may have slept in another camp. crazy In these bivouacs there would be minimal services: a tent for each pilot, a sleeping bag and a military ration of food.
Furthermore, the complication in the sands will be greater than last year. There will be miles and miles of sand, with navigation that Dakar assures will be “devilishly difficult.” It is expected that there will be hidden checkpoints (way points) that can cause confusion in the general classification, clues that are difficult to find. In addition, the roadbooks will be different for cars and motorcycles, so the complexity will be enormous.
JANUARY 13: REST DAY
Rest day in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Day for the competitors to attend the media and for the mechanics to tune up the cars before the second week.
Stage 7: January 14 Riyadh-Al Duwadimi
Link, 390 km – Special, 483 km: Participants will enter a maze of canyons with many changes of direction. That is, following the roadbook will be complicated and any wrong decision can generate a huge loss of minutes. Later, there will be an extreme stretch of sand dunes.
Stage 8: January 15 Al Duwadimi-Ha’il
Link, 220 km – Special, 458 km: It will be a stage “slightly easier than the previous ones”, according to the organization. But in Dakar there are no easy stages and you should not trust yourself. There will be rocks and competitors will have to avoid holes on their way to Ha’il.
Stage 9: January 16 Ha’il- AlUla
Link, 222 km – Special, 417 km: A stage that will put the main competitors mentally on the limit. Competitors will be hard to keep track of and navigation will be complicated. And you will pass through the rocky plateau.
Stage 10: January 17 AlUla-AlUla
Link, 241 km – Special, 371 km: Loop stage that will give the teams some much needed rest, without having to move to another bivouac. But on the track there is no rest. According to the organization, this stage will “give smarter competitors plenty of opportunities to take advantage of their rivals’ mistakes.”
Stage 11: January 18 AlUla-Yanbu
Link, 107 km – Special, 480 km: This will be the last day, the last day where distinctions can be made and where we will still see a change in the overall classification. There are kilometers here, with a length of almost 500 kilometers. Most of the specials take place in dry and rugged terrain. So be careful with the mechanics. The podium of all categories and the final victory are decided.
Stage 12: January 19 Yanbu-Yanbu
Link, 153 km – Special, 175 km: A timed section of 144 kilometers. On motorcycles, if the race is as close as last year, it could be an exciting sprint race. Also in the Challenger and SSV categories. It depends on the advantage with which the leader of these categories manages to emerge in the special.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
