After three days in the lead, Ross Branch dropped to second place in the Dakar 2024 today. The Hero MotoSports rider finished fourth in the fourth stage, 4m26s behind the winner José Ignacio Cornejo (Monster Energy Honda), and was overtaken by the Chilean – who now leads the race with a 1m15s advantage.
In an interview with the official Dakar website, the Botswanan admitted that it was not a memorable stage for him: ‘I thought today I would experience a crooked handlebar! It was really a tough day for me, one of the days I would prefer to forget. I fell after 40km, trying to look at the roadbook I hit a rock. Then, I fell again 20km from the finish just going into the dunes. There was some hidden camel grass in the sand and that threw me over the handlebar. But I’m fine, the bike is repairable. I don’t think I lost too much time‘.
Branch also commented: ‘I’m not sure what’s happening behind me. We don’t know what happened at the refueling, no one was coming, so we’ll just return to the bivouac and repair the bike for tomorrow‘.
