Despite the conditions, it wasn't such a bad today with Tosha finishing second. There was a lot of water on the stage, during one river crossing he lost some time as the bike stopped and it took him almost a minute to get back going again. He feels good though, the bike is fine and he is in a good position. Adrien likes this kind of rally, it’s technical and it was sandy again today. He finished third despite his bike also stopping after crossing the river, so he lost some time too. Ricky finished in fifth but he had a two minute penalty for speeding. He crashed on the second special stage but was OK and will be ready to line up tomorrow. He doesn’t like this sort of terrain, but it is what it is. Skyler was in sixth after a consistent stage. Tomorrow is a long day as we cross the border into Spain. The first part will be really really fast on sandy terrain and there will still be a lot of water. The last part in Spain will be technical. We are ready for the second day.

We had some rain overnight which made the tracks muddy and slick. I got stuck in a water hole but I think everybody encountered the same issues throughout the day, just soaking wet gear, gloves and googles. It was fun, I had good traction. We came with more of a knobby tyre so less slick and a little bit easier to ride this kind of terrain. The second special of stage one was the prologue. This is kind of stupid, they do it for no reason, it’s part of racing I guess and I hit the ground. I don’t like hitting the ground, I lost the visor and scratched up the helmet. I got a little penalty in a speed zone, a couple of other riders did as well. I feel like I didn’t miss any speed zones but I guess one caught me out. I’ll just keep moving forward and try not to hit the ground the rest of the week and make it to the finish line.

Growing up in the desert and getting two days of rain per year and then you come here to Portugal where it’s been raining for three months straight and everything is full of water, it’s a little bit different and challenging for me. It’s really nice to come here and race and change things up a little bit from the desert. I’m having a lot of fun and it’s a great time and great challenge and I love riding my dirt bike and I’m stoked to be here with Monster Energy Honda HRC, loving life.

It’s been a wet day. I’m from Northern France so mud is something I kind of like, even if wet gloves is not the best. It was a good day, I think we saved it. I went through deep water many times and I was a bit scared to stall the bike. I’m happy overall about the feeling, I want to get faster and better everyday.

It was pretty good, it wasn’t easy as it had rained so much. We had to cross so many rivers and one of them it was super deep and my bike stopped in the water. After 40 seconds or so I switched my bike back on again and I was able to continue flat out. I finished in second place, two minutes from the top spot, but it’s just the beginning with four more days to go. Tomorrow we head into my home country so we will have all the crowd there so I will be pushing hard as it’s extra motivation.