“You remember everyone who supports you, my mom too, the energy helps”

The pilot from Salamanca Lorenzo Santolino won the third stage of the Dakar on motorcycles (RallyGP) and achieved the first victory of his life in the competition in his seventh participation. Santolino (Sherco), who achieved the sixth victory in the history of the French brand and the first since the competition was held in Saudi Arabia, achieved an advantage of 1:21 over the South African Bradley Cox (Bas World KTM) and 4: 01 in American Ricky Brabec (Honda).

Upon his arrival at the bivouac, moved by the victory he dedicated to his late mother, Santolino spoke at length with the Spanish envoys in Dakar.

THE STAGE

“It’s been exciting, it’s been many years trying to get a victory on the stage, usually it’s not my goal, I’m more focused on the overall position of the Dakar. It’s true that I’m leading the stages or something similar , third or fourth, but won a stage It was different when I saw the general classification, I saw that I had a good run, I felt good on all types of terrain, with the speed I had, and said ko, ‘we will try to take advantage of this opportunity, we’re going to try to win.'”

THE VICTORY OF SPAIN 120

“It’s something I’ve always thought about, dreamed about, to win a stage in Dakar is a milestone that adds up. I’ve won races in the enduro world championship, I’ve won races, but doing it in Dakar is special, and more than doing it on “The third day, when all the top teams are still there, to have achieved this is very good for me, and also for Sherco. It’s been many years since they achieved success on stage, and they I worked a lot for this, I’m happy for them.”

DEDICATION, HANDS IN HEAVEN

“You remember a little of everyone who supports you, as well as my mother, I remember her even in the stage. difficult moment, that energy helps.

HELP WITH A FORGIVENESS

“There are some points where there is an area of ​​rocks with sand, where there are no tracks, and the navigation is complicated at some points. All the decisions I made were good, I don’t have to go back , I didn’t lose time in that sense, so it definitely helped me In the end, a stage is a Dakar stage. Getting a result in Dakar is the main goal, but winning a stage is another thing gives much pleasure, In other years perhaps I had an option, maybe not very clear, and I saw it because of the terrain, because of the situation of how the race was going and I told myself to attack as much as I could, in a difficult day tomorrow, but with confidence in sailing”.

GOOD DAY AWAY

“I saw that it could be a good day because of the starting position, which is 11th, and also because of the many rocky areas, a volcano, like the first stage last year, which is quite technical terrain, which I am normally good at because I was quite ‘enduring’ and good last year, it’s to my listing, so I tried to push from the beginning, I was quite confident, and the sensations were good, I tried to keep a good speed and be in a good position , so from there I am I tried to push in addition, I was overtaken by Pablo Quintanilla, who in places like this had a very good pace, with me, and when he slowed down a bit, I did the last 100 kilometers ahead and he was ahead of everyone. It was difficult put together the conditions to win a stage, and now when they are there, I take advantage of them.

EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR SOMETHING

“In fact, in sport what usually happens is bad. Usually it is difficult, difficult, good results are only a few days long, and to have a result like today you train for many years, and if sometimes it comes and sometimes it doesn’t, last year I had to go home without anything good, but at least I took away the good taste of having a good speed, I was fine, and now I got at least a little is the reward for all the bad that day, with one virtue constituting the rest”.

FINISH TOP 10

“List of objectives? It doesn’t change me, the goal is still the top 5, which is still not easy, otherwise I have achieved it. It is not easy now, but the goal is feasible and I will fight. I have reached this, I took a stage , which is something I’m on the list getting older and winning a stage is higher, so I’ve reached it.”

NO MANY TESTS AND RACES

“In the end, everyone does their best, we all take advantage of the resources we have, we don’t have as much as other factories, but we have already seen that good results can be achieved with effort. Fighting for the goal of Winning a Dakar is big words, but I think the goal I set for myself in the top 5 is not easy, although I think it can be done, we will continue to fight.