Nani Roma achieved his most emotional victory after beating cancer and Ford’s first

“Come on!”he shouted Àlex Haro opened the door of his Ford, next to an excited Nani Roma. After many hardships, it’s time to smile. Nani Roma and the co-pilot Òdena They achieved victory in stage 10 of the Dakar 2025, which was the first for Nani Roma after fighting and overcoming bladder cancer and the first for the ambitious Ford M-Sport project.

“It’s a special emotion. It’s been a good stage. The best thing is that we went out for it this morning. We haven’t found it yet, we’ve been looking for it. Yes, it is true that they ride more calmly in the front, but in the back there are people who ride hard. Very good. “We are very happy, it is a positive day and we are happy for Ford for all the work,” the Catalan driver told MD when he got out of his car. Folgueroles52 years old, is aware that the drivers fighting for victory and the podium in Dakar did not push. But he also emphasized the many drivers who, like him, no longer have a chance in the general classification, who also tried. And Nani achieved it.

Nani’s win is proof that anything is possible if you believe in it and never stop fighting. SA nanidoctors told him he would never compete again. It is a miracle of nature, also a result of his enormous stubbornness, that he returned to the pilot in Dakar 2024. And especially this Wednesday he won again.

“That’s what sport has. It’s the advantage that we have a brain designed to forget the bad and keep the good. And in fact, these moments are the payoff for everything else.. This, when they tell you: why are you still in Dakar with problems? Because it compensates for everything else. The pleasure is so high that it makes up for everything. It’s very important to be here and continue,” the Catalan pilot pointed out to this newspaper.

Nani Rome He was very unlucky at the start of the Dakar when he was out due to a problem with his car. He feels competitive, he can fight again for ‘Touareg‘, but for the first time he had to give up and reconnect to become a backpacker. Mattias Ekströmwhich continues with the options. The rings did not fall off, he continued to try new settings on the car to give information to the team and continued to fight. This victory was a reward for that insistence, but also for much of Rome’s work carried out in the shadows to develop the Ford Raptor T1+.

The winner of the Dakar in car and motorcycle is the driver who has developed the car the most from scratch, putting it to the test in extreme conditions, so that it arrives at the Dakar with a chance to win. He Dakar He was not fair in his efforts for that abandonment. But he was able to continue the re-engagement to re-taste the success he hasn’t achieved since 2015. Never stop fighting, like Nani.

Lategan regained the lead and Nasser suffered

The Qatari promised them great joy Nasser Al-Attiyah on the arrival of the dunes, his favorite land, of Empty Quarter. I pointed that out Whiplash He was not a fast pilot in this land, and neither was Al-Rajhi. But on the first day of cut and soft dunes, the five-time Dakar champion He got lost due to his co-pilot’s navigation failure and lost 12 minutes About the great benefactor of the sun, Henk Lategan, who at the wheel of his Toyota regained the overall lead.

However, nothing has been said in the car category and anything can happen. Stage 11 is the main day, where everything can change. No one wants to open the special and the return will benefit. Nasser had the last chance to attack from behind and had to take risks to burn all his ammunition. The same goes for a Al-Rajhi in a better position to lead in the penultimate stage and thus face the final day as a virtual champion.

Al-Rajhi He is 2nd overall, just 2’27” behind Lategan and will start further back Henk in this 11th special. The Saudi billionaire is currently the favorite for the throne without mistaking the sands. Yazeed It has an ideal starting position to deliver a good blow to a Whiplash which must be experienced in a penultimate stage, the queen stage, of 275 dunes, dunes and more dunes.