Dakar Blog - Day 4

Stage Report - Day 4 - 8th January 2020

Start location: Neom
Finish location: Al Ula
Stage Length: 453km SS (timed), 223km liaison, 676km total.
Stage finish position: 111th
General Classification position: 116th

Today’s stage took competitors from the seaside city of Neom to Al Ula, home of many significant historic sites, across high plains and through rocky canyons.

“Today was brutal, not just because of how long the stage was but the technicality of the terrain. There was one section of about 50km which was entirely rocky, my hands and back were in pieces by the end. To finish there was around 80km of off-piste deep sand through huge rocky outcrops, which was fun to ride but just felt like it was never going to end.”

“Unfortunately I missed a waypoint near the end of the stage so I’ll get a hefty time penalty of 40 minutes for that, but at that point it was already dark and so I thought it best to just crack on to the finish and not put myself at any unnecessary risk. Tomorrow we get our first taste of some proper Saudi dunes, I can’t wait.”

Tomorrow's stage 5 goes from Al Ula to Ha'il, with a 353km SS and a total distance of 563km.

Thanks for reading, more from us tomorrow!

Team #SHdakar2020