Fernando Alonso's drier answer to a question he didn't like in the Dakar

"Good feelings, happy to continue here, the goal is to finish the Dakar and the result is what it is today," Fernando Alonso said on the arrival of the second stage of the test. He was calm, relaxed.

Then, a journalist has asked him: "We see you well, we expected you more angry or upset", he said and Fernando Alonso replied, now more dry: "Well, that's what you sell."

On the other hand, the Spanish motorcyclist Laia Sanz suffered a sharp fall during the second stage of the Dakar rally when impacting the wheel of her motorcycle against a stone that “catapulted” her to the ground, although that hard blow did not prevent her from finishing with the discomfort of the 367 timed kilometers of the day.

The mishap has left the Catalan rider away within an hour of the race head and with muscle discomfort that has been treated with ice when arriving at the camp of this stage between the coastal cities of Al Wajh and Neom, on the shores of the Red Sea .

"Today was a dusty day. I was going out quite ahead and I was already inside the cloud of dust. The visibility was very bad. Towards kilometer 30, in a stony area, in full curve I was turning, I have lowered a moment seen to see the 'roadbook' (road book) and I have eaten a stone that has catapulted me, "said Sanz.

The blow also damaged the motorcycle and that made it difficult for him to navigate the rest of the stage. "It has taken me a long time to see the information, because everything was smaller. Apart from that, the handlebar has been a bit crooked, so I am not so comfortable. The bike is fine," he lamented.

The Catalan must go to the third stage, a loop with start and finish in Neom, with the motorcycle in those conditions, because this day was the super marathon stage, in which the elite motorcycle riders only had 10 minutes to repair the motorcycle at the end of the day, without the possibility of intervention by its mechanics.

However, Sanz is more concerned about the position in which it will leave on Tuesday, as much dust is expected as suffered on Monday.

"The worst thing I know about the fall is not the time I lost, but tomorrow I will go far behind and, if we continue between canyons and with this dust, it will take me three days to get back to where it is my turn. I hope to find myself well because when the blow cools, my hip hurts a lot, "he acknowledged.

The Dakar rally is held entirely this year in Saudi Arabia, in twelve stages from December 5 to 17. He left last Sunday in Jeddah and will arrive at Qiddiya, the city of leisure that was built on the outskirts of the capital of Riyadh. Its total route is almost 8,000 kilometers, of which more than 5,000 are timed. EFE