JRod wins maiden Dakar stage; brings in first success for Hero MotoSports

Al Qaisumah (Saudi Arabia), 4 Jan. 2022: Portuguese star Joaquim Rodrigues, of Hero MotoSports Team Rally not only won his maiden Dakar stage but brought the first success for the Indian manufacturer of two-wheelers at the World’s toughest rally raid event.

TVS ace Harith Noah, the lone rider representing India, finished the stage 29th after losing time before the first Way Point but recovered brilliantly to make up at least 11 positions and finished at a respectable 29th which put him in an overall 31st place.

After creating history with the victory for the World’s largest bike maker, Hero Moto Corp, the Portugal rider “J-Rod”, who endured the worst of experiences, with the death of his team-mate Paulo Gonçalves on 12^th January 2020, said: “It’s my first stage victory on the Dakar and its historical for the team, I’m really, really happy. I was riding well and so fast that I even said to myself, ‘Paulo is riding with me here’. I think he and I won here today”. On Tuesday, he enjoyed one of the best, thanks in part to his former countryman and teammate.

JRod, as he is affectionately called, won the 255-km Stage 3 in 2 hours, 34 minutes and 41 seconds. Earlier today,  as Daniel Sanders, the leader on the first two days, was eagerly awaited at the finishing line to discover the outcome of this Special Section. But the hungry Australian stopped for a couple of minutes to take bite and lost a good three minutes and dropped to fifth place. Toby Price has completed the stage in second place, ahead of the incredible Mason Klein.

But today it was Joaquim Rodriques, who deserves all the praise.

About J Rod

Joaquim Rodrigues has had to deal with a lot in the past couple of years, but riding his bike has slowly helped the 40-year-old to recover his form and confidence. At Dakar 2020, the Portuguese rider lost his brother-in-law Paulo Gonçalves, who tragically died on the seventh stage. The terrible event plunged the entire rally raid family into a state of mourning, and left Joaquim battling with depression.

After an extremely difficult year, he made the bold decision to return to the Dakar in 2021 and ride it in honour of the man who was married to his sister Sofia. One of the most emotional moments of the rally was seeing a tearful Joaquim cross the finish line on the final day and point to the skies.

The Hero MotoSports factory rider now takes Paulo with him wherever he goes racing, and the whole team wear Paulo’s final race number, 8, on their kit. Joaquim has had a busy 2021 season, competing in as many rallies as possible to help Hero fine-tune their 450 Rally and target the top places at Dakar 2022.

He began with a promising fourth place at the Andalucia Rally, and ended with a first world championship podium at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge -the same rally where Paulo took his maiden world championship podium in 2012. Over the course of a long professional career in supercross, motocross and rally raid, Joaquim has learned that you have to play it smart on an event like the Dakar. In spite of everything he was going through last year, he still took a very creditable 11th place in the bikes, and will now be looking to finish in the top 10 for the second time after his 2017 debut.

Before Dakar 2022 JRod said: “The main goal is always Dakar. We need to ride in the desert, and this year we tried to race as much as we could. The bike is always new, we’re always developing. That’s why we use all these races during the year to test new stuff. I think all the factory teams do that, because the best testing is racing, you know? I think we’ll be better prepared for the next Dakar.

“Time on the bike is always good! You feel more comfortable, more loose on the bike. Racing is the best thing you can do. And the results are showing that also. The whole team is doing good and that’s what’s important. Every time I go on the bike now, Paulo goes with me, to every race. It was hard times, still is hard times, difficult for my family, my sister and her kids. It’s been tough, you know. But taking him with me motivates me a little bit to keep pushing, to keep going and not give up. That was Paulo. I have many years of racing already, not only rallies but also motocross and supercross.

“And you can’t do more than what you can control. Just go out there every day and do the best you can. Make your bad days work as well as you can, and at the end of the race see what you get. I take every day as it comes, not thinking about the final result. Even if I come last, if I feel it was the best I had in me that day, it’s good enough for me. That’s the mentality you need to have, especially for rallies.”