UAE champion Balooshi only Emirati at Dakar Rally

Dubai - This is the second year in a row that the race will start in Peru

The UAE champion Mohammed Al Balooshi will be the only Emirati competitor representing the UAE at the legendary race.
Dakar Rally 2019's action will start in South America with the best of the best riders and teams literally battling all odds for a place at the finish ramp.
The local and Arab champion Mohammed Al Balooshi is a man of records and having pioneered in the Motocross, and Off-Road racing in the region for over 15 years. He is once again the only Emirati competitor participating in Dakar 2019, having the honour to take the colours of the UAE flag to the remote lands of Peru, where millions are expected to follow the race during the next 10 days.
This is the second year in a row that the race will start in Peru, which will allow to have the chance of enjoying a little familiarity with the terrain in the opening stage, but as always, the Dakar will have challenges and difficulties beyond imagination, and the circuit is poised to pose different obstacles for those involved.
The 41st edition of this legendary rally, "The Bone Breaker" they call it, will be raced over the course of 10 stages and will no doubt be once again a platform for drama with competitors and machines pushed beyond their physical and mental limits day after day.
The details on the route and dangers hidden are unknown to the contestants, which is typical of Cross Country racing where the route is secret, and only revealed to the competitors a few hours before the start of the action every day, but with a full Peruvian race ahead, and considering the geography of the areas the race will cross, the terrain is expected to be primarily made up of sand, with large extensions of desert and high dunes -very soft after a dry and very warm summer in the Southern Hemisphere - which will make things difficult for the competitors, particularly in the motorcycle category.
Despite the route being the shortest in the event's history, the technicality of the terrain and of the race itself with super tricky navigation, will make this edition the most difficult yet, particularly for the bikes. Motorcycle competitors need to combine high speed riding, with navigation, and without a co-driver to read notes and assist with pointing the direction to follow, riders have more than enough to keep them on their toes, at all times. The physical fatigue and dehydration they suffer during the long hours of racing -which affect concentration, combined with the fact that the bikes do not provide the riders with a chassis around them to protect their bodies like cars do, add on to make a combo only apt for the brave.
Anticipating these elements and with such a technical race ahead, Dakar Rally organisers have introduced and innovation to their regulations, in the shape of a "second chance half-marathon" mode, to give a second chance to competitors who break down early on. There is no engine or motorcycle in the world capable of surviving 10 days of gruelling racing, at full speed, and in extreme weather conditions, for over more than 5,000Km of soft sand.
This will be Al Balooshi's 3rd Dakar Rally. In 2012 he was forced to retired with an injury after a harsh crash, and then last year he was able to finish the race in Argentina in 32nd position, becoming the best position an Emirati and Arab competitor ever achieved on two wheels, in this legendary rally.
Dakar 2019 route
6/1/19 - Starting ramp / Lima 7/1/19 - Stage 1 / Lima - Pisco: 331 km (SS: 84 km) 8/1/19 - Stage 2 / Pisco - San Juan de Marcona: 553km (SS: 342km) 9/1/19 - Stage 3 / San Juan de Marcona - Arequipa: 798km (SS: 331km) 10/1/19 - Stage 4 / Arequipa - Tacna: (C,SxS,T) 664km (SS: 351km) + Arequpia - Moquegua: (B,Q) 511km (SS: 351km) 11/1/19 - Stage 5 / Tacna - Arequipa: (C,SxS,T) 714km (SS: 450km) + Moquega - Arequipa: (B,Q) 776km (SS: 345km) 12/1/19 - Rest Day / Arequipa 13/1/19 - Stage 6 / Arequipa - San Juan de Marcona: (C,SxS,T) 810km (SS: 290km) + (B,Q) 838km (SS: 317km) 14/1/19 - Stage 7 / San Juan de Marcona - San Juan de Marcona: 387km (SS: 323km) 15/1/19 - Stage 8 / San Juan de Marcona - Pisco: 575km (SS: 360km) 16/1/19 - Stage 9 / Pisco - Pisco: (B,C,Q,SxS) 409km (SS: 313km) + (T) 407km (SS: 311km) 17/1/19 - Stage 10 / Pisco - Lima: 359km (SS: 112km)