In the tenth stage, Ross Branch once again fell further away from the dream of victory in the Dakar 2024. With the seventh time, he finishes this Wednesday in second place overall, but now at a distant 10m54s from leader Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy Honda) with only two days remaining.
The Hero MotoSports rider highlighted to the Dakar website that he gave his all and had fun, but did not fail to make mistakes: ‘I fought. I gave everything. I made some small stupid mistakes, lost some time, but we had a good day. It was fun. I enjoyed it. Riding with Toby [Price] and Quinty [Pablo Quintanilla] was fun. I look at these guys and I respect them a lot, so riding with him and having a bit of fun is everything. I enjoyed it’.
Branch later acknowledged Brabec’s good form and that it will be difficult to surpass the opponent: ‘Ricky has stepped up and he is doing well and it will be difficult to catch him, but we still have one more long day and we will see how it goes’.
That being said, the Botswana rider emphasized that he will not give up: ‘You never stop believing. The end is only when the checkered flag is shown at the end of the race. So we will continue to fight until the end and, who knows, maybe we will get lucky. We will see’.
Finally, Branch recalled that anything can happen until the end: ‘This is racing, anything can happen in 100 meters, so I will give my best and see what happens’.
