It was a really important day for us on what was going to be a difficult and challenging stage. With Ricky, Nacho and Adrien opening the day and our main rival Ross Branch starting further back in seventh, we knew that with a gap like this if something happened in front it would have been easy for Ross to recover some time to Ricky overall. It was quite stressful as it was a long day for us all, but in the end Ricky rode a really good stage and it’s a good step for tomorrow as he will start behind Ross.
Nacho started second but he had a problem with the fuel pump and so he needed to stop and try to fix the bike. We’re glad he could solve the problem and get to the finish, but disappointed for him that he won’t be fighting for the podium.
Adrien had a solid day in third with good navigation and pace and although he had big crash involving a group of camels, he thankfully managed to get his damaged bike to the end of the stage. Even though he lost some time to Ross today we believe that he can put up a good fight with him tomorrow for second place.
After running out of fuel on the first part of the 48 Hour Chrono and falling out of podium contention, Pablo has been a big help to his teammates this week and with the last day tomorrow, all the riders are motivated and focused for the final stage in Yanbu.

It was a long stage and I was able to stay ahead for the first 100 kilometres and after that I caught up with several riders but it was impossible to overtake because there were narrow canyons and it was quite dusty. It actually felt like an enduro stage so I was happy to get to the end.

I would say today was my best ride of the rally. The first goal on the Dakar is always to make it to the rest day and then the next goal is to make it to the finish. If you finish the Dakar, that’s a win. It’s not easy, especially for the bikes because we’re up at three in the morning and we’re riding all morning, we’re riding all day and we’re getting back to the bivouac late. But finishing the Dakar is a win in my book and if you can win the Dakar it’s legendary.

I had some issues with my fuel tank so I had to manage my speed a bit to be sure of finishing the stage. I lost some precious minutes in the fight for the podium, so it was a tough day emotionally, but it’s racing, things like that happen. I just need to keep moving forward. I wanted to be up there as much as I could as I was riding and navigating well, so we’ll try again next year.

Of course I'm going to fight to the end, I'm going to give my best as I do every day. Until you cross the finish line you don't know what will happen.
I decided to attack today and it was a stage full of rocks, so I couldn't push too hard as I didn't want to make any mistakes.
At one point in the stage there was a group of camels and I saw that they were crossing the main track. When I got close to them the last one decided to turn around and I tried to avoid him but there was a stone and I had a big fall. When I got up I was a bit dazed but I managed to focus quickly enough to get back on the pace.