Juknevičius’ team, trapped in the dunes, initially thought they would cancel the stage – visibility was zero

“Monday was only the second day of the Dakar, after all the ultramarathon. A new day is a new story, ”said the rider himself, so we kept going. Everything is initially counted in the team report.

Third speed section. One of the two speed sections of the Dakar 2021 in a loop. Vadi al Davasyras – Vadi al Davasyras.

In the third phase of the Dakar in 2021, the unshakable spirit-breaking adventurers awaited 403 kilometers of speed sections for hot hearts and cold heads with 226 kilometers of public roads. With the other Dakar camp, participants will have to move on to tomorrow, because the start and end of the speed section of the circuit, which draws a circle on a wide map of trajectories, are in the same city.

Track pavement profile: 78 percent. sand dunes, 12 percent. soil, 10 percent. dunes. Let’s convert the percentages into words that tell us what challenges await the Dakar warriors fighting nature on the track.

A fast and technical section of speed, where between the slow and fast sections, every 10 kilometers of “settled” dunes, the Dakar participants “fed” on a sweet portion of adventure.

The organizers did not provide additional information on the complexity of the dunes, so it was hoped that they were not complex and would not cause major problems.

There were great valleys, sand-covered canyons that allow guiding the accelerator pedal to the end, in the words of Antanas Juknevičius in the “Gaza, bottom” mode. At the end of the speed section, a series of challenges awaited the team guides, repeating the signals seen in the legend of the road book as a mantra leading on the right path to the finish line. The winds of the country for several days covered the track with any material that destroys any trace, so the sailors will have to rely on their experience and professional talent.

While discussing the waiting track, the team’s navigator hoped that the organizers planned to crush a piece of the Empty Quarter desert that had not been touched by civilization and that the Dakar participants would “open the door” to this 1,500 dune massif. kilometers high during the third stage. Part of the Arabian Peninsula. We are talking about an area of ​​650,000 km2, which is 10 times more than our Homeland Lithuania, a “framed” landscape, created for natural reasons to measure the physical and psychological limits of all those who are determined to overcome the proposed challenge.

Antanas Juknevičius, who risked a lot in the second speed section, took advantage of the repositioning right

According to the racing regulations, riders on the Priority list have the option to move up the line for the start of the speed section the following day if they have reached the finish line in a lower position due to any obstacle and want to start the next day from a higher position to avoid on a dangerous track of slower cars on the track, where every inch of the track is fighting.

Antanas Juknevičius expressed that wish to the organizers only after returning from the second speed section, finishing in 40th place. “There are very high risks when driving a group of slower vehicles and trying to overturn them, because nothing is seen through. from the dust they raise. “

We broke the car, bent the fork, had to change wheels when we decided to take a chance and bend in a difficult place. Such flexing adventures can also complete the Dakar, ”said the runner after finishing the second stage, who decided to use the right of the wild card to request repositioning three times during the race and move up the starting lineup.

The request was accepted and granted, but when the organizers decided to mix up the start times for the cars and trucks, we had to skip 6 trucks ahead and start from 42nd, hoping to overtake them as we drove down the track.

The KREDA starting team, as in the stage of the speed section on Monday, found themselves among the heaviest and slowest Dakar machinery units, where with great patience, waiting for the best moment to turn and sinking in the clouds of dust, rose up. Finally, after spending 4 hours and 23 minutes on the track, 20 of which were scraping the soft sand sands, at 1:40 p.m. Lithuanian time, the crew reached the finish line, provisionally in 37th place.

How do runners rate the day?

“We thought at one point that it would cancel the speed section. Visibility was zero,” said team navigator Darius Vaičiulis, who began reviewing the day’s events.

“It just came to our attention then. Ruta superinis“We are very happy to be over this day”, – Antanas Juknevičius shared his thoughts and impressions.