STAGE 12 - Total 680Km - 164Km Special Stage !
Today is " THE DAY of DAYS"!! I tackled the 164 km special stage very emotionally today!
A few time penalties were awarded yesterday and so I'm on P48 overall before the start
Was really able to keep P48 today ==> P47 (Dave McBride) was too far away with 11:10 minutes.
In addition, despite my emotions of what I had achieved, I didn't have to let myself been carried away to make mistakes ... the road stage of 200km to JEDDAH is still officially part of the race and I still had to stay very focused not to make any mistake like Daniel Sanders made a few days back, a motorcycle problem, wasting time, or something like that can happen in a blink of an eye .
I have just fulfilled and achieved a " DREAM " ... " MYDAKAR " is Reality! .. what comes next?
A tired warrior, a broken but overjoyed "DAKAR FINISHER" ... that's what they look like :)
I would like to thank each and every one of you again for the 1000 messages every day and the support I hope I can answer everything in the coming days. And a big thank you to my family, friends and sponsors, I couldn't have done it without you!
I hope I was able to share a bit of my adventure with you and you liked it !!! When I see the riders I battled with this week - bikers who ride their bikes every day, who live in the desert and already have completed several Dakars, I'm just happy with my performance.
Unfortunately, I don't know how things will continue this year. I would love to continue riding rallies because I really enjoy it and I think I still have a lot of potential if I could spend more time on the bike - lets see where this journey goes?
But now I'm going to take a break for a few weeks and do everything I've missed out for the last 3-5 years and give my friends what they probably missed... time for them!
The more than 1000 hours on the home trainer and in the gym, the injuries, pain, physiotherapy and everything else that goes with it... it was definitely worth doing it ⚡
P40 in the Special & even managed to achieve a P48 in the overall standings!
Podium in JEDDAH with my " BAS DAKAR TEAM "... no success without these boys at my Dakar
Two happy boys - my Team Buddy " Wiljan Van Wikselaar "
It's really fun to "surf" the dunes - if there weren't the worries of the timing during the satge :)