Monster Honda’s Joan Barreda had to call in air support after finding himself stuck at the bottom of a basin with no way out.
Barreda and his bike were helicoptered out of the area after the Spaniard came across a low visibility foggy and rocky area while opening the track, lost control of his Africa Twin which went into a slide down a ravine which it proved impossible to escape from.
“Sadly the Dakar ended for me today. It had been going very well, opening the track and pushing the riders ahead. When I reached the mountains I found a lot of fog that limited my visibility,” said Barreda.
“Following the directions of the roadbook and the GPS I reached a cliff, when I tried to return I saw that Walkner had also arrived, they saw me and stopped and were able to turn around, but from below it was impossible for me to climb back up. I tried to go down further and look for a route out along the ravine but it was impossible.”