With its three riders, Adrian Metge, Joan Pedrero and Aravind KP placed 24th, 25th and 31st respectively, the Sherco-TVS Racing effort at the 2018 Dakar Rally is off to a steady start, following the 272km long opening stage from Lima to Pisco in Peru.
The onus at the start of such an event is always to make sure that a rider is finishing the stages and that the bike remains reliable.
All three riders did that with a fair amount of ease and maturity given that the stage was a short one and there is still around 8,500km of the rally left to run.
Aravind couldn’t disguise his relief in getting a stage under his belt after his early event injury and withdrawal at last year’s event.
‘I feel a lot better with my riding than last year for sure’, Aravind told autoX and the journalists gathered at the bivouac near Pisco. ‘There have been a lot of improvements from last year too. The bike is more powerful and we are focused on building a solid base in these early stages from which to get a good result’.
Aravind will hope to stay not too far from his more experienced teammates, Joan Pedrero and Adrian Metge, as the rally makes its way to the southern Peruvian border before advancing into Bolivia and Argentina.
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