Ricky Brabec finished third in the sixth stage of the Dakar, which extended from yesterday to today. He was 5m02s behind the winner, his Monster Energy Honda teammate Adrien van Beveren, and now leads the overall standings by only 51 seconds over Ross Branch (Hero MotoSports).
The American told the official Dakar website that he enjoyed this marathon stage: ‘The stage was long. I think if we had started at 07:00am [yesterday] we could have finished the whole thing. I feel good. I’m ready to go for the second week. My fingers are a little sore from the clutch over the last two days, but overall it was fun. I enjoyed it. I know some of the other guys are saying it’s too much but it’s the Dakar, it’s not easy’.
At the end of the first week, Brabec considered the first goal accomplished: ‘I’m looking forward to the rest day tomorrow. I’m really happy with my first week. Goal number one is to make it to the rest day and then goal number two is to get to the finish. It looks like we’re going to be starting the second week at 110% and I’m looking forward to it’.
Regarding the experience of spending 48 hours in the desert and camping, the rider commented: ‘Two days in the desert was quite fun, honestly. The camping last night was really fun. We didn’t sleep that great, but overall it was fun with the guys. We had a little campfire and barbecue cooked our meal’.