“For the second year in a row we start from scratch with a complete new project,” said Alexandre Kowalski, Yamaha Racing Team Director on the Dakar. “Last year experience was important to collect data, but the bike is completely new. Just think, we had one tank while now we have four—two in the back, one in the middle and one on the rear. With the new weight distribution the bike is much more balanced and more agile. We raced several races and won the Merzouga Rally in Morocco with Alessandro Botturi, so we are confident with the reliability of the machine. Plus, we reorganized the riders’ line up. With the increase of the gap from 2 to 3 minutes for the start of the first 10 riders and 2 minutes between the 11th to the 20th competitors, the race and team strategy change too because this means that there will be 50 minutes between the first and the 20th rider. The project is Yamaha Europe but we have one Japanese engineer working in the team and we are in touch with Lin Jarvis.” Yamaha lined up two aces to fight for the top positions, Portuguese racer Helder Rodrigues and Italian Alessandro Botturi on the 2016 bike, plus Adrien Van Beveren and Xavier de Soultrait on the previous version. “We trust Alessandro Botturi a lot,” said Kowalski. “He was the only rider that we confirmed from last year. To win Dakar you need to be a complete rider. To be fast is not enough. You need to save the bike, manage your energy, and have mechanic skills. A former professional rugby player, Alessandro has a strong body and the right mentality to face 14 race days. We know that he will give always 100 percent. And in fact he did. When he crashed on the second stage and injured his right wrist, we thought that race his was over as a dislocated wrist is very painful. It had swollen a lot and looked very bad. But Alessandro was very brave and started again the following day fighting with the pain.” 
The second day of the marathon stage Jujuy-Uyuni when the Dakar was heading into Bolivia, entering into its most demanding phase, Alessandro Botturi showed he was a true team player. Once Stage 5 had started, in fact, the Italian gave his wheel to his teammate Rodrigues, who had his wheel and bib managed at the end of the 4th stage, first part of the marathon stage where no assistance team and no work on them. The Italian, who was 14th in the general, just 2 positions and less than 4 minutes behind the Portoguese (16th) after 10 hours and 53 minutes racing and a total run of 2,300 miles, compromised his race for the sake of the team. Despite this issue and the pain, Botturi managed to finish Stage 5 in 20th, while the Portuguese crossed the finish line in seventh, recovering a lot of ground after a difficult start of the rally, when he was sick and unable to push as hard as he was capable. “I started very determined,” said Botturi. “The package is good and I feel comfortable on the new bike. The WR450F is balanced and agile. I trained a lot and I arrived at the start ready to do a race among the protagonists. Unfortunately, in the second stage I braked too strong entering a time speed zone and crashed. It was hard to open the throttle with a dislocated wrist. But I thought of my 5-year-old son, who is already riding motorcycles, and I said to myself ‘dad must be strong.’ So I gritted my teeth and tried to push as much as I can. I am happy because I could continue the race but of course the incident spoiled my results as I need to deal with the pain the whole day.” 
Life was no easier for the Italian once entered in Bolivia and especially on the Uyuni–Uyuni loop, 280-miles of special stage between 11,500 and 13,800 feet of altitude. Once again, the Italian thought of his son and pushed on despite the pain, crossing the finish line 9th, while Rodrigues, completely recovered from his fever, finished 5th and 6th in the overall, 20 minutes behind Dakar Rally leader Paulo Goncalves (Honda). “Dakar is special also for the teamwork,” says Kowalski. “It was crucial when the race was in Africa but it’s still the key nowadays because in a 14-day race everything can happen and teammates need to help each other. It’s the key between winning or losing. We know it’s not easy because each rider aims at winning. It’s normal. All riders have a strong ego, but being a team player is a plus and we knew we could count on Botturi. He used to play rugby professional and so playing for the team sake is in his DNA.” If it went well for Yamaha, it definitely did not for the Honda team on Stage 8—the Uyuni–Uyuni loop in Bolivia—saw Joan Barreda being towed by his teammate and waterboy Paolo Ceci. Barreda managed to finish the stage after a heroic day, but dropped from fourth place in the general rankings to the depths of the field. 
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