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MADRID – Spanish female off-road motorcyclist Laia Sanz has a resume few can match, having crossed the finish line in all eight of her participations in the Dakar Rally (a women’s record) and even placed among the elite riders in recent years.
 Sanz said Thursday in Madrid during a visit to the headquarters of Agencia EFE, Spain’s international news agency, that she was proud of her 12th-place finish at this month’s Dakar with a time of 46 hours, two minutes and three seconds, 2:56:02 behind Austrian winner Matthias Walkner. But despite achieving her goal of a top-15 finish and having placed among the top 20 riders in the Dakar general classification for five straight years, the 32-year-old says she believes she can still get better. “I think this year it would’ve been possible to finish (in the top 10) without my falls, but it’s pointless now to say if I hadn’t fallen I’d have been there,” she told EFE. “In Dakar, things happen to all of us. Everyone has a bad day, so I have to be pleased.” Sanz, who also is a 13-time winner of the Women’s World Trial Championship and five-time winner of the Women’s Enduro World Championship, said her chances of a top-10 finish evaporated when she suffered a bad fall in the 11th stage from Belen, Argentina, to Fiambala/Chilecito, Argentina. “I thought about my parents, who were worried when they saw the images. The fall was unexpected. It was at the end of the stage. I was tired and it was a hard fall. I was disorientated at first,” she said. Despite the challenges, however, Sanz said she and her fellow competitors enjoyed this year’s race more than the 2017 edition precisely because it was more challenging. She credited her countryman and five-time bikes champion, Dakar Sporting Director Marc Coma, for a varied race featuring lots of sand. Asked if she considered herself the greatest-ever female rally motorcyclist, Sanz said she was taking things “year by year.” “I think I still have room to improve. I did well at this Dakar, but there are things to improve and I know what I need to do.” |
