I am the one who tells him in his ear where he has to go. Yes, it could be a good description: I am the man who whispers in the driver’s ear,” Lucas Cruz (Caldes de Montbui, 1974), defined himself to this newspaper, a computer engineer who has been professionally dedicated to rally-raids as a co-driver for 30 years. years. As the guide to the right of Carlos Sainz, he is co-responsible for the Madrid native leading the overall Dakar car classification and heading firmly towards his fourth Tuareg. Six stages separate him from glory, half the way to the final finish line in Yanbu next Friday.
It so happens that, once the caravan arrives at the rest day, with the pertinent list of casualties, five of the 40 best cars in the general classification (Ultimate category, T1 and T2) are co-driven by Catalan sailors, as well as six of the best 20 in Challenger (T3 and T4). That is to say: the most reliable navigators are those from home, in many cases coming from motorcycles, not coincidentally, since on two wheels they are better than anyone in orientation tasks by reading the roadbook in the midst of the hustle and bustle.
There they are, in addition to Cruz, Armand Monleon, who was a motorcycle racer (he raced four editions, from 2016 to 2019) before making the leap to the right of the cockpit to guide Gerard Farrés, Lucio Álvarez, Przykonsky and now the Brazilian Lucas Moraes, with whom he is fourth overall. Or Oriol Mena, who after three very good Dakars on a motorcycle as the best Spaniard (7th in 2018, 10th in 2019 and 15th in 2021) made the leap to the SSV light cars because his work as co-pilot was better paid and valued. He won in 2023 in the SSV category with Eryk Goczal, and with the young Pole he repeats this year with equal dominance, leading the Challenger category with more than an hour’s lead.
The same story happened with Dani Oliveras (Juan Cruz’s co-driver in an official Toyota, 28th), a contemporary of Laia Sanz and Toni Bou in trials, who went through the motorcycle Dakar; with Oriol Vidal, with Marc Solà, with Jaume Betriu, or with Rosa Romero, Nani Roma’s wife, excellent enduro rider, Spanish champion, who did not hesitate to park the motorcycle in the parking lot and now guides the Canarian Pedro Peñate ( 62nd overall).
“I think the riders really value my experience of having gone through everything on the bike, of knowing when to say enough is enough. And also for the fact of being calm,” explained Romero, who learned to act as co-pilot with the lessons given to her by Àlex Haro, her husband’s navigator, and with the advice of Nani himself. “He told me how I had to sing the notes, to move further… In fact, when you have already navigated a motorcycle, it is simply about knowing how to convey to the other person, the rider, what you are seeing, and now It is done with a tablet.”
Apart from the expert Lucas Cruz (in his 22nd Dakar, 12 of them with Sainz), Àlex Haro is one of the most experienced in the guild in the Dakar. Òdena’s co-pilot is Nani Roma’s right-hand man, after having passed through the seat to the right of Xevi Pons, Albert Llovera, Giniel de Villiers and Orly Terranova (last year, due to Nani’s absence due to cancer). With the Folgueroles driver – who stole him from Llovera – Haro has experienced the most intense emotions and his best result, a 2nd in the 2019 Dakar, which ended with three broken ribs, the result of the mixer that is a cockpit. an all-terrain car in the Dakar.
“We are the eyes of the pilot, the long-distance eyes, since at short distances he already looks at the route. We have to guide, make the pilot go fast”, and to do this they have to be precise, clear, fast, accurate. That is why Nani had to relearn Catalan to understand well with Àlex, since Roma had been with a French co-pilot for several years and he came up with many terms in that language.
The pilots also value the mechanical notions of their companions, such as Isidre Esteve and his inseparable Txema Villalobos, or the tranquility they transmit, such as Sainz de Cruz. “I rarely see Lucas tense, he sees me more often. The secret of a good relationship and coexistence is to understand each other well, there is no need to talk; “We understand each other with our eyes,” the Matador explained to La Vanguardia.
