Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Honestly, at this moment, I'm not thinking much about the future. I'll definitely ..~ ~h' spend some time with my family, with my wife Elena and with my son Gioele. As for what I'll do ~ when I'm finished racing, I haven't yet decided. I'd definitely , I·~" like to remain in the ,- " f ,.. I, I racing environment. I very much like to teach off-road riding in ~. the desert, and there are already some organizations that are ask'n me to do that. Do you stiD manage to enjoy the Dakar Rally, or is there too much pressure now? lt's difficult, but I still have fun. I wouldn't really say there's pressure - maybe there was more before. I am very comfortable on the KTM team; I work with people who are passionate and helpful, and I have no complaInts. ThIs year, the technical assistance was fantastic, and for me, that is the most important thing. How many races to you contest in a year? .- . .~ there. It was a marathon race. You saw the faces of the racers at the end. It was short, but it had high drama. But on the other side, if you made a mistake, you couldn't catch up, so that means better preparation before - more work before, and more organization. If ever something happens, you have to be able to react very quickly. The teams that want to win need to have a structure where the top rider has someone behind him to help him. Otherwise, if he has a problem, he's dead. Look at [Kari] Tiainen, the day that he broke his wheel. They had to make an arrangement with Jean Brucy [from another KTM team], but on that day he lost all his chances for the win. If he had a rider right behind him, he might have been okay. After that, he wanted to push to show that he was there, and he crashed stupidly. That's the Dakar: As soon as something starts going wrong, you're swallowed down to the bottom. I have experience in this race, and it's always like that. When everything goes well, you must say, "I have to protect myself, so it keeps going well." You don't go to the left or the right; you keep in the middle, and let nothing take you away from your goal, which is straight in front. As soon as you start thinking of something outside of the race, bam! And after that, it's so difficult to get back on the right road and go straight again. Is that what happened with Joan Roma, when he took a wrong road near the end and panicked? Roma is missing a little thing - a little thing, but he will do it. I watch the racing, and the riders on the course, and the day he won the stage that arrived in Tichit, he had been leading from the first moment to the end. He led the whole time, with no one in front of him, and he won the stage. So that means he can do it. He has to get the confidence in himself: the technical part, he already has. He's one of the fastest riders, and now he just has to improve navigation. You know with computers, there's a moment when you have to reset. Everything gets stuck, but you hit the button, it takes the pressure off and you start over again. It's stuck, and you think you can't get out of it, but you just have to reset. So he didn't find the reset button. The day he gets it, he'll be perfect. What about Fabrizio Meoni? Meoni is the champion of the world. He found the trick last year, but Meoni and Roma are different. Meoni is a pure product of the Dakar. For me, he's like Edi Orioli, but] 5 years later. He came into the race as an amateur, with his own money, liking this race. He wanted to show that he would win. He was not the fastest rider, but he learned, by working, working, working. Now, today, everybody is saying, "How can we beat him?" In the KTM team, you have Heinz Kinigadner, who used to race the Dakar. The only guy that rode like him was Stephane Peterhansel sometimes, when he was angry. He was always wheelying, even in the dust, which is crazy, like a motocrosser. Kini, at times, was unbelievable, and he has a real talent. Meoni is not the same. Meoni has been learning, working, building - but now, you see the result. Do you think age helps in the Dakar Rally? On the bikes, yes, but what is very extraordinary about Meoni is that he's old, but still young. You see that he's making a big effort to stay at the top. We'll see next year, but I'm not sure he will win one more. I think, on the bike, it's so difficult to get everything going well - it's exhausting. There comes a moment when you say, "I'd better In the world of motocross, most riders are considered over the hill at age 30 (Mike laRocco's recent supercross win notwithstanding), and even in off-road racing, there aren't many 40-year-olds who are still competitive, FabriZIO Meani, however, has just pulled off his second Dakar Rally victory in as many years, and the Italian has celebrated no fewer than 44 birthdays. This year's win came aboard KTM's hot new Lea 950 twin, and it was so authoritative that the competition is now scratching its collective head, wondering what it can do to beat the Italian. One word of advice: Don't wait for him to get old... There aren't many riders who have managed to win the Dakar Rally twice in a row. What does it take to have success in this race? To do well in the Dakar, a rider must be balanced - be well-prepared physically, able to go fast over all types of terrain, and have the proper mentality. He must also understand that winning the single stage is not what's important, but to arrive at the right moment, when there's a face-to-face with an adversary who IS more on-form, 10 a better situation. This moment always arrives sooner or later, and when it does, you must give] 00 percent_ What are the slmiliarities and differences between your two victories? The 2001 victory was the most beautiful from a human perspective, because it was the first, and because it had been 10 years that I tried to win and failed. I needed to win, and I pulled It off precisely when no one believed in me any longer. . This second victory perhaps gives me even more satisfaction, especially from a technical perspective. I was the one to develop the new bike, and I in fact worked long and hard on it, and it was revealed to be fantastic in regards to reliability. It was also an important victory from a sporting perspective, as it didn't come from other people's problems. None of my important adversaries broke their bikes, and yet I was able to remain in first place. You are 44. Does your age help you or hurt you? Q A Q A Q A Many years, and much experience in th Dakar. Experience is fundamental. I think that it helps me to be more calm and to act reflexively - to not get overly excited when things go well, and to not get too depressed when gobad. How long wiD you continue to take part in the Dakar, and what will you do afterward? aturally, I will continue, at least as long as I feel I can continue to fight for the Win, and as long as I have faith in my capacity to do well, and as long as I have a competitive bike. I have reached the objective that I always had: I've won twice, and that is already much more than I could have hoped for. Q A stop." Because on the bikes, you can't make one mistake. Which was more instrumental in Meoni's win - him, or his bike? Meoni won. The bicylinder gave him a little help, because the bike had no problems. Maybe you have to ask Fabrizio, but for me, from what I remember of driving the bicylinders from Cagiva and BMW, the torque helps you, even if the bike is heavier. It makes for a different style of riding. When you have a heavy bike, you ride somewhat smoother. And with the torque, there's a different style of riding. The single, now, is so fast, but you have to be on the edge all the time. You have to keep it revved, even though the single has a lot of torque itself. On the twin, the moment you have the ability, you open it and brawwwm, it gives you maybe two seconds. But at the end, ] 0 times two seconds is 20 seconds, and ] 0 times 20 times two seconds is over half a minute. You're more tired, but it's okay if you have a physical resistance for that - and Meoni has it. If I had to choose, I'd rather choose a twin like Meoni's, because we have a similar style, but I'm not sure Richard Sainct, for example, could do it. Carlo de Gavardo couldn't do it. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's my opinion. If you were to put all of the great Dakar riders over the years together, how would they compare? [Smiles] No, no, no, no. I don't make comparisons. Every time, there's a good driver - that's the important thing. You can't compare. For Americans, the Dakar Rally is very interesting, but it's also very mysterious. Is there anything you would like Americans to understand about the event? ";M' r ..' ~!J :b : ~j\ l · Q A Q A AII those in the Rally World Cup, a few races in Italy, and the Dakar. It's not really that many - eight at the most - but it's worth mentioning that the most important rallies aJilast at least seven days. Then there's training and testing to get the motorcycle right. Last year, I spent at least two months just in Africa. The Dakar Rally is less well-known in America than in Europe. What would you like Americans to know about the event? The spirit of this race. It is unique. Q A Q Did you rand the twin to be an advantage or a disad· vantage in the race? The strongest advantage was its reliability, especially regarding the motor. The major defects are the weight and the difficulty of maneuverability. The increased power is nice to have when you decide to attack - to emerge from the dust of your adversary - but it doesn't pardon mistakes. The risks that you take with it are decidedly greater, so you must ride with more concentration. You must choose with more care when to open the gas or when to hit the brakes: In fact, the LCa doesn't permit you to make directional corrections with your body like you normaJly do on an enduro bike. By Giancarlo Giannobile/Moto Sprint A I'd love them to come, because I think it's a human experience, but I think there is something that's difficult for Americans. They're used to doing short races, but I think your real character shows on long-term races. You need to make a long-term effort to realize that you are a certain way, and not the way other people see you. Then, when you are in a situation that is harder, suddenly you realize that you like it. And you act in a certain way, which is maybe not the way you would act normally, but it's the true way. Take, for example, Jimmy Lewis. When he came to Dakar the first time, he didn't listen. He was a very good desert racer, but he got sick . he was dehydrated - and we sent him back to the States because he was in collapse. When he got back home, he said, "Never more!" The next year, he didn't come, but the next year, we heard from him again, and he came back. He came back. You'll have to ask him why he came back, but I think this race fascinates him, for this reason: You are in a situation where you have to show your guts, and that makes a difference. I don't say that you don't get that from motocross or whatever, but it's different. You discover something about yoursel.f. When you go back home from this race, you are different. It's a way of living that you don't know - you're not used to it. That's for everybody. I don't know your life, but generally, we see that even the journalists who cover the race are affected. Some, we see them once and never see them again, but the other ones, when we see them once, they come back many times. Of course, it's different when you're racing, but there's still something particular about it. It's extraordinary. It's Dakar. eN cue' e n e _!II: • JANUARY 30, 2002 27

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