One of the three first-timers in Team Honda Europe this year, Tonnie Krabbenborg can't wait to get on his bike. He competes together with one of his best friends Alois Ressing, who is also on board with the team. "It seemed far away, but luckily the start is getting closer real quick now", After a year of training and preparation the dream of competing in Dakar comes true.

Tonnie Krabbenborg and Alois Ressing decided to go for Dakar together. They have 30 years of offroad experience together, and are amoung the oldest participants in the race. Shortly after one of many offroad trips they threw the dice and started to make arrangements for Dakar. 

"We've had a great year, woth a lot of competition on smaller rallys. For the third time we did the Tuareg Rally in Morocco, which seems to be decent training ground for Dakar. Dunes I can handle, we've trained the rocky stuff in Turkey and mud and sand is every life for a Dutch rider. What you cannot train are the distances and the long days. Opening the throttle is easy, but staying on your bike in these conditions and finding the right balance through the weeks is more difficult. We'll try to finish, that counts for us."

"I hope to stay calm when the race begins, it's difficult to find the right pace that keeps you in te competition for two weeks when you're eager to ride. But I think I can handle this challenge.

Alois and I will ride together if possible, but we've agreed to keep our own pace. We'll meet at checkpoints or at the finish of a special anyway, as we have roughly the same speed. The adventure and the challenge of participating in such a big event is our goal. And to finish of course!