Yazeed al-Rajhi (Riyadh, 43 years old), achieved his dream of winning the Dakar by car by winning the 47th edition of the toughest race in the world. Thus the billionaire became the first Saudi winner of the Dakar and the first to achieve victory at home in the entire history of the event.
Yazeed always stood out for his tremendous speed, but he suffered from too much fire. He accelerates a lot, but he doesn’t know when not to do it and manage his advantage. The best example is what happened a year ago, when he left stage 6 due to a serious accident. This happened when he was in the lead, after winning 3 of the first 5 stages. And instead of showing his anger or regret, he left the place smiling, as if it was funny. But a year later, he showed that after that mistake, he learned and became stronger.
In a Dakar that was very difficult from the start, the big names erred on the side of speed. Carlos Sainz and Sébastien Loeb withdrew for the first time due to accidents. Meanwhile, Nani Roma was left out of the match due to engine trouble. The enemies fell, one after another, and Yazeed remained there, silent, waiting. Something changed in him.
“What has changed? The experience! Now we have experience. Before he always attacked. Now we think what day to attack, what day not to attack… Strategy,” he explained to MD a day before his coronation.
“I think you can’t win without a strategy. When we need speed, we push. Until day 9 or 10 I was almost at 90%, without pushing at 100%, and all. And on stage 11, sometimes I was pushed to 95 %, but not 100%, because I didn’t want to risk it, And I know I can do it in the sand, I don’t need 100%, because maybe you have an advantage break the suspension or break something. You have to be smart,” he said regarding a key stage 11. He knew how to stay true to his strategy is the penultimate one, 275 km of sand that he dominates better than South Africa, and also, with a further back starting position that allows him to have the upper hand.
He knows how to manage the race, something he didn’t know how to do before. He took advantage of the fact that the greats were no longer in the race. Only Nasser had a navigation error before the queen’s stage left him with almost no options. Al-Rajhi failed the least and won.
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.
