Tosha Schareina, evacuated: the Valencian left the Dakar after falling on stage 1

The Valencian Tosha Schareina he wants to shine in his first Dakar with an official motorcycle, as part of the team Monster Energy Honda Team. He is living the dream all his life and he wants to take advantage of it, showing his great speed and the tremendous courage that in 2023 allowed him to climb to the top of the world rally-raid elite. However, the dream turned into a nightmare. Dakar showed Tosha one of its faces, the most bitter and cruel. The test chooses its winners, but also the heroes who are capable of reaching the goal. And this time, it was Tosha. The 28-year-old driver suffered a fall at kilometer 240 of stage 1 of the Dakar 2024 and had to be evacuated by medical services, abandoned early.

According to the Dakar organization, Schareina was injured in the arm, that’s why he had to say goodbye early to the toughest test in the world, this Saturday. Later, the pilot himself clarified what happened in front of the microphone of the official Dakar television, where he said that he suffered a severe blow to his wrist.

“The truth is that the stage we are working on is very good. At kilometer 240 or so, I caught something in the rear wheel. The truth is that this part is relatively slow and without risk. I think I was going there a little bit behind the dust and I caught something behind the wheel and I fell, very unlucky I hit my wrist and well, we’re out.”Schareina burst into tears.

One day after winning the prologue and becoming leader

All this happened a day after raising his arms for the first time as the winner of a Dakar stage, by winning the prologue stage. Tosha Schareina went to Dakarian success from looking in the eyes. He wants to repeat a victory that the Spaniard has not achieved since the last of the 5 touaregs won by Marc Coma (2015), something that Nani Roma achieved for the first time in 2004. He wants to win the Dakar on two wheels, a dream that so many times he is most tested. the cruel world rejected him by one of his great idols and references, Joan Barreda.

Tosha replaced Joan on the back of an official Honda, with Torreblanca heading to Hero. He did this to pursue the goal that Barreda could not achieve, the formation of a future ‘touareg’. In his first year, although he reiterated that he had to “keep his feet on the ground”, he did not deny that the goal should be to win. And he confirmed it in the Saudi deserts, shining from the beginning. He started the Dakar 2024 by winning the prologue stage against the best in the world, who have more experience than him in the fight for everyone. And in stage 1 he continued very fast.

I nailed it at stage 1, until…

Tosha started stage 1 from a very good position, without having to open the track that won the prologue and picked a good position to start. He can follow the lines of other rivals and accelerate as much as possible in search of gaining more time in the general classification and start to open small gaps.

The plan is working perfectly. After the 38-kilometer checkpoint, he overtook Van Beveren and pulled the car, directing the navigation. Branch joined his group and the Spaniard continued to set the pace to find the next way points until reaching the checkpoint at km 87. From there he handed it to Branch who pushed. Together they arrived at Sunderland, Luciano Benavides and Giemza, which means more time gained on these rivals.

Tosha was third at kilometer 225, halfway through the special. I find that I am very good at doing things, which gave only 2’04” with respect to Ross Branch, the only one capable of catching him in that first half. He had to continue like this, but with about 15 kilometers to go, the Spaniard fell.

Ross Branch, who was riding next to him, stayed standing for about 26 minutes to help him (The organization must indicate the final total time to be returned to the finish line), until Schareina was evacuated by medical services. The Spanish dream is over.