The Portuguese rider managed to finish the stage in extremis, improving 7 positions
António Maio, at the controls of his Yamaha WR450 Rally, successfully finished the second stage of the 47th Dakar Rally, improving seven positions compared to the initial stage. The day around Bisha, in Saudi Arabia, was the first major challenge of this edition of the race, as the riders faced a 947km timed special where dunes and sandy tracks predominated. The complexity and harshness of the stage made itself felt, but António Maio managed to overcome all the adversities and completed the special in 12h23m29s.
The Franco Sport Yamaha Racing Team rider made a good start to this long 48-hour stage, despite having started ahead of the caravan, and halfway through the stage he revealed that he was setting the right pace and had good prospects for the second part of the stage. However, a mechanical problem hampered his performance, and he still managed to finish the second stage in 27th position.
“The 48-hour stage was complex, demanding, and long. It was a stage with lots of dunes, fesh fesh and sand. The first part of the stage went well and I was able to navigate well, even though we drove over 200 km through dunes to open up the track. But the stage was very demanding and at a certain point when I entered the dunes, I noticed that the bike was losing water. So my goal was to get the bike to the finish. I tried to manage the situation as much as possible because it was already difficult to keep the bike running. At the last refueling area, the bike no longer wanted to start, but luckily it did and I was able to start it. I was a bit afraid of crashing, but luckily everything went well. I was very lucky to finish. I came to a stop on the apron and from then on the bike wouldn't start again. We're now going to work on solving the problem so that tomorrow can be a positive day,” said António Maio on arrival at the bivouac in Bisha.
Tomorrow sees the third stage of the Dakar 2025. The stage will cover 327km and will run from Bisha to Al Henakiyah. The stage was originally going to be 496km long, but due to the bad weather that has been hitting the region, the organization decided to shorten the section. After a long period in Bisha, the caravan is now on its way to the north of the country.
Automatic translation of the Portuguese version available on www.todoterreno.pt
Source: Antonio Maio / A2 Comunicação
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