Laia Sanz: the woman who led the female growth in the Dakar Rally

Listen this article

This year was the edition with greater participation of women in history. The Spanish pilot completed a work of almost a decade in the popular contest

She is already well recognized in the competition. Spanish rider Laia Sanz consecutively finished her ninth Rally Dakar placing herself in the eleventh position, which is her second best performance in the toughest rally on the planet, after the ninth position she achieved in the 2015 edition.

Leer en español: Laia Sanz: la mujer que lideró el crecimiento femenino en el Rally Dakar

Although she has never won it, Sainz is the pioneer of the female gender in the Dakar, so much so that her performances and her influence allowed the massive participation of 17 women in 2019, a new record that also aims to be overcome every year. In the case of Sainz, a bacteriological infection forced her to an inferior preparation before the rally, in which she was even on the verge of not participating, according to Marca.com.

The same media ensures that the Catalan was less to more in the Dakar Rally, climbing positions, in part thanks to the abandonment of some of the favorites to win, as were the Spanish Joan Barreda (Honda), the Portuguese Paulo Goncalves ( Honda), American Ricky Brabec (Honda) and Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren (Yamaha).

Sanz mentioned that this Dakar Rally is "probably the most special" for having finished it and for that eleventh place. At the end of the eighth stage, Sanz said, "I'm bursting, I'm paying for the lack of preparation, but I'm doing everything I can to follow and pass the stages as well as possible, I'm giving it my all, this is incredible."

Finally, Marca replied Sanz's final statements that day: "Today was very dangerous, the first part was very broken, with a lot of fesh-fesh and, as if that were not enough, with fog, so I decided to take it very calmly. Then I found Brabec standing, later Svitko equal, so I thought about the classification, and the important thing was to get to the end. "

Read also: Unprecedented: a participant with Down syndrome in the Dakar Rally

Who is Laia Sanz?

Laia was born on December 11, 1985, in Corbera de Llobregat, in Barcelona. Currently, she still belongs as a resident of Catalonia, but specifically in the Seva region, the elite athlete's range.

Her record is not to be dismissed with women's world trials titles (13), European women's trial titles (10), titles in the Trial of the Nations (6), victories in the Dakar Rally Women's Trophy (motorcycles) (8), Women's enduro world titles (5), X women's enduro gold medals at the X Games (4), X women's enduro silver medal at the X Games (1) and their absolute position at the 2015 Dakar Rally (9 ) and 2019 (11), as reflected in his personal website laiasanz.com.

Will she let Toby Price kiss her?

Toby Price is an icon in the history of the Dakar Rally. However, before the edition of this 2019, he suffered a substantial fall in training that broke the scaphoid, which forced a surgical operation in which a nail was inserted and enlarged his legend because despite that decided to participate, explained El Confidencial.

Before the problems of both pilots in the Dakar, Sanz and Price decided to launch a reciprocal challenge that later like this: "Are you ready for the Dakar?". First it was Laia who launched the first challenge. "If I'm in the top 15 of the Dakar, I'll cut off his hair," she said, apparently because of the Australian's famous hair.

Then Price showed a 'contract' signed by the two parties according to which, if he was among the top five (at the end he was the champion), he was able to kiss the beautiful Spanish driver for at least five seconds. "And it's sealed by Laia, so I sign my contracts at KTM," he explained between jokes and before Laia's eyes, which went along with a photograph of the supposed contract. Both of them fulfilled their goals so possibly not only Laia will cut Price's hair, but this one may have already kissed her.

Female empowerment

Marca and Perú 21 highlight the high percentage of female participation in the recently culminated edition , the highest since this competition is held in the lands of South America.

Marca distributed them as follows: In cars. Cristina Gutiérrez (Mitsubishi) played her third Dakar after having managed to complete two previous editions, something unprecedented for a Spanish driver in that category. Accompanied Cristina Fernanda Kanno Peruvian and Paraguayan debutant Andrea Lafarja.

In the Side by Side (SxS) category, Rosa Romero, previously a member of the Himoinsa motorcycle team, debuted. The wife of Nani Roma was co-pilot of the Italian Camelia Liparoti. The other pair was composed by Annett Fischer with Andrea Mayer, wife of the recalled pilot Stéphane Peterhansel.

In turn, Sanz (KTM) had company in Sara García, in the Original category without mechanical assistance. In addition to the two Spanish, also registered as local pilot Gianna Velarde, the Czech Gianna Novotna and Russian Anastasiya Nifontova (Originals). In quads repeated the Czech Olga Rouckova and the Bolivian Suany Martinez, the Dutch Mirjam Pol, the Peruvian Gianna Velarde, and the French Elena Florence Delonce.

In turn, Peru 21, noted that the 2019 edition of the Dakar was the 41st in history, and in addition to the 17 women, more than 500 men intervened. He added that Spain was with four pilots the country with greater female ancestry, being escorted by Germany, Holland, Czech Republic and Peru with two, while Bolivia, France, Italy, Paraguay and Russia, had one.

LatinAmerican Post | Onofre Zambrano

Copy eidted by Vanesa López Romero