Fransua Rachmann: We awoke to heavy fog in the morning of Round 6 which did not lift by the time the race was due to start and the race organizers took the decision to delay the start time by 30min for safety.

Sean started a minute before Paul and I, but disaster struck him early in the race. After the 1st PC (Passage Control) there were some big dunes with steep drop-offs. Not doing the race in the area the previous rounds, Sean was not aware of these hazards and fell on one of these dunes. After what seemed like a fairly routine fall he got back on his bike and rejoined the race. However, he felt pain in his left shoulder area and after riding on for a few minutes decided to pull out of the race to get some ice on the injury. (Only later did he find out that he had actually broken his left collar bone)

Unaware of our teammate’s misfortune, Paul and I kept racing. Going was not plain sailing though because Paul’s GPS was not working and had to follow me during the 1st lap. I had a good race until we got to another dune section and I got myself stuck in the soft sand on the side of a dune. Paul passed waited for me so we could continue to race as a team, but I struggled to get my bike free of the soft sand and fell a second time trying to get back on the route the other bikes were following, and so we became separated.

Misfortune struck the UAE CC team a second time on lap 3 when Paul’s bike suffered major mechanical failure in tough dune section. The bike was stuck in gear and he was unable to get it started. I passed him standing next to his bike, waiting for the sweeper team to come and pick him and his bike up and take him back to camp.

It is much more difficult racing on your own and I had a few falls along the way, luckily nothing serious enough to injure myself. Whilst refueling on lap 4, Sharon informed me that Sean was also out of the race and was already on his way to hospital to get his shoulder checked out.

I pushed hard for 2 more laps to successfully complete 6 laps before the track was closed. Without too many mishaps in the last part of the race, I again finished in 4th place. This time 14 minutes behind the 3rd placed rider.

Only when I finished the race did I discover that one of my falls must have damaged my radiator and the coolant had leaked out. It was a tough race all round. Some of the top riders also picked up injuries from the days racing and many more bikes and riders returned to camp with a story to tell.

So the days racing was done, but at a high price to the UAE CC team. We will find out more on what happened to the bikes and if Sean’s broken collar bone is going to prevent him from riding in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.