• The third Dakar. Four months without a day off

Yesterday, at the moment when his mobile phone was turned on with the confirmation of a joy so long postponed, Carlos Sainz was exercising in the gym of his house oblivious to almost everything. The long-awaited day seemed just one more for this motor legend who, at 58 years old, has yet to see the end. Because the Princess of Asturias Award for Sports seems just like another incentive for him, protagonist of an unparalleled career in modern sport. "We have not set the expiration date yet", warns Juanjo Lacalle , confidant and representative, exceptional witness of this time of splendor.

On June 6, it was exactly 30 years since Sainz's first victory in the World Rally Championship. It was in Greece, in the extremely tough Acropolis Rally, when behind the wheel of a Toyota Celica, he outshone Juha Kankkunen's Lancia Delta Integrale in 46 seconds . Yesterday, the jury of the Princess of Asturias, chaired by Abel Antón , recognized the "great spirit of improvement" of Madrid, "the effort and discipline" displayed during these three decades. "If I'm honest, if they didn't give it to him this time, it was foolish for them to try again," Lacalle acknowledges.

“The Dakar, with stages of 800 kilometers, almost without knowing where you are going, with average speeds of almost 120 km / h, requires brutal physical and mental preparation. Many 40-year-old pilots would not take it. So, with all due respect, obtaining this award at the age of 58 has much more merit than in the case of a chess player ”, he analyzes for EL MUNDO.

Working with your child

During these almost three months of confinement due to the pandemic, Carlos has exercised daily with the same dedication as always. First in the company of his son, a brand new Ferrari driver from 2021. And since last week, when Carlitos returned to London to prepare for his last World Cup with McLaren, he continued on his own.

"If they give him a competitive car, he will continue to wage war", his manager anticipates about that tremendous self-demand with which he always faces the next challenge. Perhaps the most defining note of his character. «He always had a tremendous charisma. It was he who revolutionized the World Rally Championship », Lacalle said of his beginnings. “If the first section started at eight in the morning, he would get up at six to go jogging or cycling. He would come back, eat breakfast, and only then get in the car. Back then no one could think of something like that. He changed the philosophy », sentence.

His imprint is also palpable on the Dakar, 14 years after his debut with Volkswagen. His co-driver Andy Schulz boasted 14 starts and two wins, so the first warning was to take your foot off the gas. On January 17, Sainz was crowned for the third time in the toughest Rally on the planet at an average close to 100 km / h. Something like that had already been told to him by a Toyota colleague in his first Safari Rally, back in 1990. "When you think you are going slow you still have to slow down more," Mikael Ericsson snapped about the 500 km sections in Kenya. Fed up with that conservative tactic, in 1992 he launched into a double stage Nairobi-Mombasa that even today shakes Lacalle.

"He never had a controversy"

Sainz will be the fourth pilot, after Sito Pons (1990), Fernando Alonso (2005) and Michael Schumacher (2007), to listen to the tolling of the bagpipes at the Campoamor Theater. The first Spanish athlete awarded since Javier Gómez Noya (2016) will be able to remove the bad taste of 2018, just after his second crown in the Dakar, when he had to yield to mountaineers Reinhold Messner and Krzysztof Wielick . So on Friday, October 16, if sanitary measures do not prevent it, Sainz will travel to Oviedo to collect the diploma, the badge, the 50,000 euros cash prize and the warmth of a hobby that has always idolized him.

“Carlos has been loved very much everywhere, among other reasons because he has always been politically correct. He never had a controversy with a partner or with a team, "says Lacalle about his exemplary behavior in adversity. The tragic climax to the 1998 World Cup, with the Toyota Corolla damaged 500 meters from the finish line, did not break the norm either. "The Japanese did not like that Luis Moya broke the moon with his helmet, but Carlos never blamed the car."

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