"We all know this is a race packed with risks"

He says he's not superstitious, but there's a figurine of the Virgin of Queralt hanging around his neck. Marc Coma, who was born in Avià, Barcelona, in 1976, is competing once again in the Dakar Rally, having won the event three times already. This year, though, he has swapped his tent for a much-envied camper van. The Spaniard is the favorite to win the motorbike category, and indeed topped the leaderboard after the second stage on Monday. He did not fare so well on Tuesday, however, after he got lost and dropped 13m04s behind the new leader, Cyril Despres, from France.

Question. This year's Dakar began with the death of the Argentinean competitor Jorge Martínez Boero in the first stage on Sunday. How does something like that leave you feeling?

Answer. Unfortunately, these things happen. I hope it won't happen again. It's a very high price that some of us have to pay. But we all know that it's a race packed with risks.

Q. They say that human beings like challenges. What is yours?

A. I never thought I would win the Dakar three times. But given that I'm still here after 10 years, with the same enthusiasm, it's because I really like what I do.

Q. How has becoming a father changed you?

A. I now see things with a lot more perspective. In the past I was really caught up in the racing. But I've matured now and I have realized that there are more things in life. Before I was involved in a smaller world.

Q. How did it feel leaving behind a four-month-old baby to come and do battle in the desert?

A. I normally travel a lot, and spend a lot of time away from home. Even though this is a longer journey, I'm OK with it. I'm really keen to race and afterwards I'll be really keen to get home to see how the baby has grown... The truth is, I've not exactly changed a lot of diapers. I don't want to take the credit for things I can't do. Every day I ask myself if I will know how to be a father.

Q. You're a very meticulous person...

A. Well, yes, I am - there's no point in denying it. If that weren't the case I might have won a Dakar, but I would not have spent 10 years competing. If you don't have a system, it's impossible. I respect others when they improvise, but not when that improvisation affects me. That bothers me.

Q. Why have you been less successful at rally cross than you have been at endurance?

A. I started too late in cross. I competed as an amateur when I was 15, but now 16-year-olds are already world champions. In endurance I managed to get to a very high level, but I never won a world title. Rally raid is more suited to my characteristics. Your physique has a lot of influence, as does your ability to navigate. That, and the technique that I already had in other specialties, has brought me to this point.

Q. Could you have been anything else other than a professional rider?

A. Well the logical thing would have been to continue with the family business, either farming or my father's construction firm. I've never done anything else apart from race motorbikes, although I have helped out at home from time to time - I've driven the tractor, I've worked on the cereal harvest and I've done manual laboring.

Q. You have a junior team that competes in the Spanish Championships and the World Endurance. How did you get involved in that?

A. The majority of team sports are very well structured in terms of training participants from a very young age, but that's not the case in our discipline. In Spain it's normally the dads who buy the bike and a truck, and they go to the races with their kids. We try to help the young kids with their training, to get them oriented to practice sessions as well as their physical preparation, teaching them about mechanics...

Q. Braveheart is your favorite film.

A. We sportsmen have a warrior spirit. We know that sometimes you'll fall, but that you have to get right back up again. That spirit of sacrifice and values such as honor and effort that you get from films like Braveheart and Gladiator are clearly reflected in the sport.

Q. In what way have you noticed the effects of the crisis?

A. I got a preview of what it was going to be like when Repsol left the Dakar. KTM went through a serious crisis and it looked as if everything we had built over the last few years was going to fall apart. As luck would have it, KTM bounced back and found new sponsors. The good work done in those years has allowed us to survive but the crisis is also visible at home. As well as having friends who are unemployed, the family firm has been left with just a third of the employees it used to have. All of those things have a serious effect on the mood of the people.

Q. You said that you identified with the 15-M movement. What makes you indignant?

A. What makes me most indignant is the fact that the just are paying for the sins of others. This has to change: we must become productive and coherent once more.