Riwald stage 13 report

On the parts where it’s hard for everyone, we are the best

#314 Mitsubishi: Bernhard Ten Brinke, Matthieu Baumel

Photo by: Willy Weyens

Then there was the penultimate day of the stage, and Bernhard and Matthieu had this day a heavy setback to endure: the drive shaft was broken and they lost 40 minutes!

Case was that they had to make up those minutes a.s.a.p. And they did: From WP1 to finish they were 1 minute faster than Peterhansel. Very nice, but still, in general, they dropped two places, from the 7th to 9th place.

It is rumored that the last special stage on the stage of Pisco to Lima is converted into a neutralization zone, so that would mean that Bernhard and Matthieu remain on the 9th place in the general ranking and that they will go in the books as the best debuting Dutch team in the history of Le Dakar.

Today’s stage was heavy, heavier than yesterday. And once again Matthieu has proven to be a gigantic important factor for the Team, because today the Frenchman navigated Bernhard along the dune where everyone got stuck. They have ridden gigantic fast and so have limited the damage in minutes.

Erik and Fabian gor stick in the dunes for a very long time

That dune, where Bernhard was talking about, that was also the burden of Erik and Fabian today, they got stuck for a long time. Bernhard: “Erik signed to me: continue! I don’t know how long they have got stuck there. ” Erik and Fabian could eventually continue the route along with its sequels and they came as 42nd on the finish.