Walkner, who suffered abrasions and bruises as well as a splintered bone in his wrist following a fall at more than 100 km/h in the second leg on Monday, finished 12:30 minutes behind the Spanish winner of the day, Joan Barreda Bort (Monster Energy). The former winner is already 28:25 minutes behind Australian Daniel Sanders, who is still the leader in the overall standings.
“Last night my hand swelled up once more and was very painful this morning. I assumed that the dunes would help my injured hand, but following the first five kilometers I realized that exactly the opposite was the case. With those thousands of compressions that come on my hand during a stage, it was even worse than the rocky terrain of yesterday’s stage. It wasn’t fun today,” said the man from Salzburg regarding the fourth stage.
“The hand hurts extremely”
So Walkner is toying with the idea of dropping out of the race. “The hand hurts extremely. I’m not sure if the whole thing still makes sense. I fight with blunt weapons and don’t say a word regarding victory. At the moment it’s just a struggle and an attempt to get to the finish well,” said the 2018 Dakar winner, explaining his thoughts. “It’s still ten long days and I’m not sure I’m going to just ruin myself and my hand in the process.”
In view of the deficit, there is no long-term damage, so Walkner with a view to the ranking. “To have anywhere near a chance of winning with this strong field, I have to be 100 percent fit, and I’m definitely not. What I’m doing here is sometimes very borderline and dangerous,” said the 36-year-old. How dangerous the Dakar Rally is was already evident in the first stage, when defending champion Sam Sunderland from England fell badly and was unable to continue the race.
