Dakar: Sam’s ready to rumble

There’s no sugar-coating it, 2023 was a seriously tough year for the UK’s top Dakar rider. Factory GasGas man Sam Sunderland headed into Dakar 2023 as reigning champion, but his race was over by the end of stage one.

A hidden rock in a dried-up river bed saw him sustain a monster crash which registered 27.6g on his Alpinestars airbag vest– nearly 2g more than Marc Marquez’s infamous career changing highside at Jerez in 2020.

Out of the race with concussion, a broken shoulder and a huge haematoma on his back; the recovery began. But the rest of 2023 proved equally as challenging with a lack of results, big crashes and injuries including more concussions and a broken tibia.

“I’ve had a really rough year. When it rains it rains a lot, and this year I got soaked!” smiled a
philosophical Sunderland…