Ross Branch no longer has any teammates in the Dakar 2024, after Joan Barreda abandoned during the sixth stage on Friday. In any case, the Hero MotoSports man is well positioned to fight for victory, being second in the overall classification, and maintains high ambition.
The pilot from Botswana admitted to the official Dakar website that it is not ideal to be the only pilot from the team in the race: ‘The team worked so hard, so it’s really disappointing to be the only pilot now. They deserve much better. Unfortunately, the stage was going to be tough on the bikes, we knew that, so we just had to try to keep it intact. Being the only Hero rider is not fun and I needed him next week, but it is what it is, it’s racing‘.
In any case, Branch emphasized that the situation will not change the strategy, maintaining the same objective – to be the winner: ‘I don’t think so. I want to win, so I’m going out and attacking as much as I can, when I can. Obviously, I have to be a little more cautious, I can’t take too many risks, but that’s how it is. Just go out and have a fun week. The goal was to survive this week. We did it and we’re here in one piece. This was definitely the toughest stage. At least we know it will be a little easier from now on‘.
