By Callum Ludwig
Seven days into the 2022 Dakar Rally, Three Bridges born and bred Daniel Sanders was sitting in third position out of the 144 riders who made it to the starting line. Steering his motorbike through the cold and dark Saudi Arabian morning, he didn’t notice the lane changing into U-turn.
“I put pressure on the front brake and I ended up crashing straightaway, slid into the curb at about 110 to 120 kilometres-an-hour, did three somersaults and then stopped, sitting there winded,” Sanders says.
“It was a big curb, probably a good foot high, not like our little curbs here in Australia.”
The result was a fractured elbow and what felt like a damaged femur as well. His motorbike was unrideable and he had crashed out of the 7000 kilometre, 12 day all-terrain endurance race.
The accident hasn’t deterred him, with a decades-long interest in motorbikes hardening him to the dangers riding presents. Motorbiking riding is in Daniel Sanders blood, with his Dad being an enduro off-road rider himself.
“I got my first bike when I was eight and didn’t start competing until I was 13.” Sanders says.
In 2011 he began racing competitively in America, before representing Australia from 2014 until 2019 as a member of the off-road enduro team. With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 cancelling most off-road events, he was offered a position as the new junior rider on the KTM racing team and decided to switch into rally racing.
Sanders impressed during his debut Dakar Rally in 2021, winning the number one rookie and finishing in fourth place overall. In the second attempt in 2022, the race didn’t go quite as well.
“Once I started bending my left elbow, I moved it up and down during the body check, it was pretty painful. I could feel some bone moving around,” Sanders says.
“When I pushed on the tip of my elbow, it wasn’t quite solid.”
After one unsuccessful surgery in Saudi Arabia, Sanders had another operation in Brisbane after flying home. He was told to spend six weeks recovering from the fractured elbow and a bone block put in after multiple shoulder dislocations.
“It was a little bit of a disappointment, but I’m alive and I’m happy to be alive,” he says.
“In good news, I was competitive and fighting for the top spot. It’s better than crashing out in 10th place.”
In 2022, 20 riders didn’t finish the race, including Sanders. Despite this year’s setback, Sanders has his sights set on a swift recovery and going further than day seven at the grueling Dakar Rally in 2023, which has taken 76 lives throughout its history.
“I spent seven to eight months overseas training for this event. Then was knocked down on day seven after being third overall in the competition, and I had a good chance of winning it as well,” Sanders says.
“For me, it’s just going to be the preparation again, same things I did last year; getting fit and healthy going in and really good training. I know what to train for now.”
Provided his recovery goes as planned, Sanders says he should be back riding in mid-April, with his sights set on competing in the Finke Desert Race in Alice Springs on Queen’s Birthday weekend.
He is now ambitiously looking for a first title at the 2023 Dakar Rally.
“The plan is obviously to try and win. That’s the goal in my career right now, to win the Dakar Rally,” Sanders says.
“I’ll be doing everything I can this year to make sure my elbows good and my shoulder is good, and have a really good preparation going in.”
As part of the GasGas racing team, which was bought by KTM in 2019, Sanders will compete alongside the eventual winner of the 2022 Dakar Rally Sam Sunderland.
Sanders says he is proud of his teammate and what it meant for the GasGas brand.
“It gives GasGas a really good name and in the competitive side of things, it’s really cool for the brand to go global in such a prestigious event,” he says.
“Sammy is stoked, he’s worked hard, he’s probably got one more year of racing so to win late in your career is really cool.”
For now, Daniel Sanders is recuperating at home in the Yarra Valley, biding his time before he can get on the bike again while appreciating the love from his friends, family, and fans back home.
“It’s good to be back home and around the Yarra Valley. It’s good to see all the friendly faces again, and the support has been really good.”
