Injured Dakar Racer Back Home

Paul Carruthers | January 16, 2007

The following is from the Repsol KTM team…

Jordi Viladoms returned yesterday (Monday) to Barcelona, after leaving the university Hospital Dr. Negrín in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where he arrived last Friday January 12th after the crash suffered during the seventh stage of the 2007 Lisbon Dakar Rally Zouerat“ Atar.

Viladoms crashed after the first refuelling while riding behind Esteve, his teammate Marc Coma and North American rider Chris Blais. A stone hidden in the sand caused the heavy crash of the Repsol KTM Team rider who fractured his left elbow and his right wrist, hand and ankle. Viladoms will undergo surgery today at the USP Instituto Universitario Dexeus to repair the fractures in the left elbow and the right ankle bone.

Jordi Viladoms remembers perfectly well what happened during the seventh stage of the African raid.

“I was riding in a group of four riders, with Marc (Coma), Isidre (Esteve), and Chris Blais, and we had just left the refuelling point. I was riding third, visibility wasn’t good because a sand storm was raising and what I thought was a small stone became a relatively big step. When I landed after the jump, the bike reacted very badly and threw me off. It was a strong crash and I really appreciate that Chris Blais stopped; he helped me a lot and waited until the helicopter arrived.”

Viladoms was taken on Friday night from Atar to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in a medical airplane together with other riders and drivers who had been injured during stage seven.

“From that moment on, the only thing I wanted was going back home. Now I feel much better, being in Barcelona. I had to travel so much, first by helicopter from the site of the crash to Zouérat; then by plane to Atar, where they made the first X-rays and the first diagnosis, then they sent me to Las Palmas where I had to stay for a few days. Yesterday I arrived in Barcelona and today I’ll have the first operation in my elbow, and if they can, in the foot. To fix the scafoid we’ll have to wait for Dr. Mir to come back from the race because I would like him to do it.”

The young rider born in Igualada, a province of Barcelona, is already thinking about the recovery period and being ready as soon as possible to be back into action. He is also analysing the development of the race for the interests of Marc Coma and the Team Repsol KTM.

“After all that happened to me, what we have to try is to be ready again as soon as possible. To tell you the truth I’m not at all surprised of how the race is going for Marc, because I know that he is a very strong rider and I think that he is doing exactly what I was expecting him to do. It is also true that the others have failed a bit and have had mechanical troubles, but Marc has done a good job and if he doesn’t have any problem this Dakar will be his again. Obviously now he’ll have to learn from the mistakes made this year because we didn’t start with well. Before leaving Lisbon I had a crash during a test. It was so shortly before the race that it conditioned my start somehow. A further lesson to learn is how to read the terrain, because you have to be even more careful. The thing is to keep on gathering experience and in the end knowing which your aim is, which is no other than being ready to reach Marc’s level some day. What my body is asking me for now is a bit of rest and to recover from these injuries well. Then I’ll see what has really been the base of all this. Going step by step, but well done steps, working hard in order to achieve a good result, which is no other than being hundred percent recovered and get back on the motorbike in good conditions.”

Paul Carruthers | Editor

Paul Carruthers took over as the editor of Cycle News in 1993 after serving as associate editor since starting his career at the publication in 1985. Carruthers has covered every facet of the sport in his near-28-year tenure at America's Daily Motorcycle News Source.