DAKAR 2025

Laia Sanz abandons: impossible to fix the Century

Laia Sanz has not had the best start in the Dakar Just the opposite: she has suffered the worst nightmare of a Dakar rider, a serious accident in the first real stage of the race that has cost her to abandon after hours lying in the desert.

The organization reported the accident at 12.45 in the morning, a mishap at kilometer 330, less than 100 from the finish line. ASO quickly announced that she and her co-pilot were fine and repairing the Century without the support of the assistance, which was on the way. Shortly afterwards, Laia herself gave explanations of what happened from the exact point of the crash, immersed in the repairs to the CR6-T suspensions and other elements on the fly.

The deformation of a bar of the safety arch has caused the abandonment(image above)

"A bad start"..."It's a bad start to the Dakar, to be honest. At kilometre 20 we were left without third gear, then without navigation, without instruments [a problem that has been repeated in several cars]. We were, however, doing a very good stage, going safely and 70 kilometres from the end De Villiers passed us." That's when the drama began.

"We were in the dust, we hit a rock and overturned, we're trying to repair it to see if we can get there and nothing, the truth is that it's not the best way to start a Dakar. Let's hope at least now we can continue," said the multi-world Trial and Enduro champion, who left it for several hours, at the first opportunity.

In the end, after arriving at the camp, it was seen that the car had many defects despite the repairs made on the fly. The bar that is just above the driver's head had deformed by 2 mm. The FIA ​​stewards considered three times whether to allow her to continue, but at around 21:30 Spanish time they gave the driver the bad news, that for the first time in her long sporting career she cannot finish the Dakar.

Remember that Laia Sanz did not have an unlimited time to complete the stage, since the limit for the first stage today was 11 hours from the time of her departure. In addition, she had to pass through the last intermediate gate, located at kilometre 364.9, at most 9 hours and 50 minutes after her departure time. Which she did, but the Century was not fit to continue in the race.

Reporter: Enrique Naranjo