Ten Minutes With... Sam Sunderland

We caught up with the first Brit to win Dakar to get the lowdown on the hardest race in the world, life in the hot seat and getting his knee down for the first time...

- Pretty Boy

How did you become a factory rider?

It wasn’t easy. I ditched my job and moved to Dubai at 19. I had a lot of advice from people around me to not make that leap of faith. I’d just done a lift engineer apprenticeship and had a stable job, and sacked it off to work in a showroom selling motorbikes and race at the weekend. It was balls-ey. I had no plan, as I was racing MX in the UK and just wanted to try and make a career. The training and riding worked.

How do you train?

At first I was training a lot for motocross. with a lot of fitness, cardio and long hours on a bicycle, just anything I could. After a while I got a coach, and now after ten years I train a bit differently. A bit more specific, so rather than high heart rate, I work on the best base fitness – a really high output for the least amount of effort. It means that I can go harder for longer, essentially. It’s not just living the dream and partying, but about hard work. I finished the Dakar, and was straight back in the gym!

What’s the hardest part of the Dakar?