“It's a whole new adventure”

Enduro superstar Jane Daniels is preparing for a baptism of fire as she tackles her first Dakar in 2024. The 29-year-old from Wigan in northwest England has been riding a bike since childhood, having been inspired by her road racing father Andy. She followed her brother Gary into enduro and went on to become one of the sport's most decorated riders, winning the FIM Enduro World Championship four times. In 2022, she also helped the Great Britain women claim their first ever triumph at the gruelling FIM International Six Days of Enduro (ISDE) in France, topping the individual classification for good measure. Jane’s enduro abilities are unparalleled -she is undefeated in two years- but she is now gearing up for a very different kind of challenge in rally-raid. She had a curious route into the sport, mentioning the Dakar in an interview with renowned enduro journalist and photographer Dario Agrati. Her enduro team Fantic picked up on her interest and suggested she take part in the Swank Rally in Tunisia in April 2023. Even if she had almost no roadbook experience, Jane finished in a creditable fourth place overall, and six months later she was lining up at the prestigious Rallye du Maroc. Despite a malfunctioning roadbook tablet on the prologue and lots of dust on the opening stage, Jane found a good groove in Morocco and finished 30th in Rally 2, rubber stamping her entry for the Dakar. Fantic themselves only branched out into rally-raid a couple of years ago, bringing their first XEF 450 Rally to Dakar 2022. They will now be hoping Jane can emulate the success of Laia Sanz, another multiple enduro world champion. While Jane acknowledges that she will no doubt be keeping half an eye on the standings, her biggest priority for this maiden outing is getting safely through the finish line in Yanbu.

“We always had bikes as kids, little PW50s. My dad would take us out riding maybe once a month, and we would watch him road racing. At some point my brother Gary wanted to give some form of racing a go, but dad said road racing was too fast and too expensive, so he told him to try enduro instead. At at some point I said, 'Can I have a go too?' and Dad replied, 'Yeah, if you want'. I progressed into racing myself at the age of 12, and the more I rode, the more I enjoyed it. I did my first world enduro season in 2012, aged 18, and I've done every season since. The harder the round was, the better I would go. I’d struggle when it was dry and fast, so it took a bit of time to sharpen up and get up to speed. I was probably a bit older and wiser by the time I became world champion! For 10 years, Dad and I did world enduro out of the back of our van, but I knew that wasn’t possible at Dakar. I’d always watched the Dakar highlights, but I never really thought about doing it. Then it came up in the interview with Dario Agrati, and I’m guessing Fantic read it, because they said, ‘Oh you fancy rally, do you?’ I said, ‘Well if there’s an opportunity, I wouldn’t say no’. And they gave me that opportunity earlier this year. It's something totally new for me, especially with the roadbook. It's a whole new adventure and I really like it. We did Morocco and we qualified for Dakar, so off we go. I’m preparing for the coldest weather, the hottest weather, the rain. I’ve been ordering things left, right and centre from Amazon. My goal this year is just to finish, that’s all Fantic expect of me. Obviously, I have a competitive streak in me so I can’t lie, I’ll probably be looking at the women’s class results! But the main thing is to get a finisher’s award.”