It’s quite appropriate that you say that, especially considering the Red Bull X-Fighters will be in town this week too…
“Ah yes! I actually know a few of the guys quite well, because they started the X-Fighters in Madrid and there are a lot of Spanish riders. I know Ronnie Renner very well. Two or three years ago, I remember we met each other in the Middle East: the X-Fighters were in Dubai and the Desert Challenge was on. And we spent two days training together and spent some time on the dunes. We swapped bikes for a while, and it was just a very nice experience. It was a lot of fun!”
Ever been tempted to swap the motocross bike for an x-fighters bike…?!
“No thanks, I’m happy enough with the rallies!”
Okay, let’s move slightly further back then to the early days. Your father and uncle were both keen riders….
“Yes, but hobby riders mainly. Not professional.”
Ah. But did their joint enthusiasm help you decide what you wanted to do?
“Well at home, I grew up surrounded by motorcycles. My father and my uncle, as you say, they did a lot of riding and that started my own attraction. Nowadays, the normal way is that when you are five or six, your family decides – not always, but quite often – that competing professionally is what you can do. For me, that wasn’t the case. In the first part of my career and my first competition, I was 14. It was just a local competition. It was…[pause] well, I’ll just say there wasn’t the same pressure that young riders today start with.”
The age that young riders and drivers make their competitive debuts seems to get younger with each passing year. Do you think that this is a help or hindrance to the?
“As far as the desert rallies go, for young riders it’s really difficult. You need the experience. So it’s perfect to compete first of all in motocross, because you learn the technical side of things and you learn the spirit of the competition. Then, when you are around 24/25 years old, maybe then you might start thinking about competing in the desert. Any younger than that and for me it’s too dangerous. It’s not the place to make a wrong decision.”
Presumably though the dangers are still there, even for the more experienced riders. Your accident alone shows that…
“Yeah…[pause] you just have to focus all the time. The speed is high, the elevations change, there is always something. And because the speed is high, your mind is not focusing on what you’re doing, and so you cannot make mistakes. You just can’t. The consequences are very bad.”
Let’s look ahead to this weekend then and the UAE Desert Challenge. What are you expecting from this year’s rally, considering the effects of your shoulder injury?
“For me, the Desert Challenge is very special. I love this rally. For a long time, I’ve been coming here to tackle the dunes! But I have to remember that I’m coming back from injury. I’ve been out for four or five months, so my rhythm in competition has gone a little, and I’ll need a bit of time. I would like to win, of course, but I have to remember that I need more time.
“I’m just happy to be here and to feel like a rider again. I’m looking forward to pushing to the maximum again, but we will see at the finish how we are looking for the season ahead.”
How does the Challenge compare to other desert rallies across the world. It’s a similar principle but presumably each has its own character…
“Yeah, it’s a very different style of riding. In Abu Dhabi, 95 percent of the track is sand and we have a lot of dunes to cross. In Spain, it’s very difficult to find sand to train in, so when I first started, it was really tough! Now, the feeling gets better and better every year. To ride on sand and on a bike, I’d say the Middle East is the hardest place in the world. Plus there’s the heat!”
Do you feel that with each event you learn something new?
“You have to. If you are not learning, you stay exactly as you are, and that doesn’t help you win. So yeah, it’s important to think about each event.”
So, a three-time winner of the Dakar rally [’06, ’09 and ‘11], a six-time winner of the UAE Desert Challenge [’06-’07, ’09-‘12] and a five-time Cross Country Rally World Champion [’05-’07, ’10, ‘12]. An impressive CV to say the least. Is there anything missing?
“Always! Almost everything there is to win, I have already won! But for me, I need to win more. I’m lucky because my hobby became my job, so it’s easy for me to train. It’s like…it’s easy to be competitive, and everytime I want to win more rallies. I’m just not getting tired of that.”
“The way to recover is always to think about coming back. For me, I’m not ready to quit yet. There are more victories I want to give to my team, and to work hard for the goals ahead. And because I missed the last Dakar, it’s another goal. For me, the motivation is still as high as ever.”
Check out our interview with Marc’s KTM teammate Tadeusz B?a?usiak, the ‘next Marc Coma’ to some.
– FULL GALLERY OF KTM/RED BULL IMAGES AVAILABLE HERE – CLICK –
