Sara Sanchez: “Motorcycling is not just a sport for boys!”
24/01/2024
Lisa Di Blas
Sara Sánchez, born in Gironella in 1997, is a promising Catalan rider. She started in minibikes at the age of eight and made her debut in official competitions at only ten. After an injury in 2009, she returned triumphantly in 2016, winning the RFME Women’s Open Cup Yamaha 3R. In 2019 she won the Copa Benelli 302R and was vice-champion of the European Women’s Cup twice. With four races in the WorldSSP300 World Championship between 2020 and 2021, she successfully challenges riders such as Fabio Quartararo, Jorge Martín and Marcos Ramírez. This year, confirming her commitment to the world of motorbikes, she will participate in the first Women’s World Championship, demonstrating once again her desire for constant growth and her determination.
Sara, thank you for being here with us today and for agreeing to share your experience with all the women of MissBiker, which as you know is the largest motorcycling community in Europe. Let’s start with the first question: how did your love for motorbikes start?
That’s the question I always get asked! In Spain, during the Christmas period, the most important holiday is ‘Los Reyes’, the day when the Three Kings bring presents to the children. One year they brought me a motorbike, which I honestly hadn’t even asked for, and that’s where it all started. I received a small motorbike as a gift and started to go riding on weekends with my father on the track near my grandmother’s house.
Is your dad a motorcyclist too?
He is not a professional rider, but he has always loved motorbikes. I always thought that my dad really wanted to have a son, not a daughter, and since he didn’t arrive he made me do all the activities he liked: football, motorbikes… and I like to do everything, I tried everything he proposed and in the end I stayed with motorbikes!
So that’s your big passion! Can you tell us a bit about your professional career to date? How has your path in the world of motorbikes been?
I started a bit by chance in the trials called RACC, here in Catalonia, and then with my father we started going around with our van every weekend to do the championships in Catalonia, and then we moved on to other championships in Spain up to the CEV (Spanish Speed Championship). I had to stop twice: the first time because I got injured, my father got a bit scared and said “Sara, that’s it, no more motorbikes!” But then when I came of age I decided to go back to racing. My father told me, ‘You know how to do it, I don’t want to know anything,’ but actually then he accompanied me and was always there with me. So, when I came back to compete at 18, I immediately competed in the championship in Spain with the R3: it was all women, I had never raced only with women and I won the championship. From that moment on, I started racing again and winning. I also took part in the European championship twice, finishing second, and then this year in the CIV (Italian Speed Championship). Now we’ll see in the new year…
And speaking of the CIV, what do you think are the main differences in competing in a mixed championship?
In my second European women’s championship, before I finished the season and knew whether I would win or not, I decided that I would no longer race with women. I wanted to start again with the men, because that was what I had always done and I wanted to compete with them, not because I didn’t want to ride with the women, but because there is a higher level. From the first rider to the last there are many seconds of difference and by that I don’t want to say that we are not fast, but we are less. Whereas in the CIV the difference is minimal. So that was where I wanted to go back, I wanted to try again. I had always raced with men and I wanted to try again.
Could you share one of the most beautiful and intense emotions since the beginning of your motorbike experience?
My most beautiful memory was in 2010, here in Catalonia, at the Montmeló circuit, during a wet race. I don’t like racing in the rain. I remember that in the race there were Quartararo, Sanchis…there was a lot of rain, but in the end I won! It was a beautiful race!
I mean, you don’t like racing in the wet, but you go fast anyway!
No, I don’t like it at all… I’m like a cat, but I’m actually not that bad and I still have fun!
This year we’ll see you in the women’s speed world championship, how did you get there and how do you feel facing the others? What are your feelings?
Some people agree and others don’t on the fact that there is a women’s championship: I think it is good, in the end there is a women’s category in all sports. But this should not be a barrier to stop running with boys. I think it’s useful for the younger girls starting out, for the girls. Now they watch TV and there are no women as a reference, so not having any examples it’s harder to say ‘I would like to be a racer’, it’s harder if you don’t have a dad like mine who is a bit crazy and gives you the bike. There are some girls who ask their parents for motorbikes, but not having a reference is more complicated for the parents as well, so I think it’s good because the younger ones can watch motorbike races and say “Look, I want to be like her!”
So it’s good for you to have reference points and open more doors. You know we at MissBiker will follow you, right?
Yes, yes! There’s still a little bit left. Regarding your question about the relationship with the other riders, it’s too early to say, because we really don’t know anything yet. There are rumours about who will race and who won’t, for sure we know that Bea (Beatriz Neila Santos) is racing, but about the rest we don’t know anything yet. The bikes are all new, so to say where we will be is impossible. Of course what I know for sure is that I want to be at the front! That is for sure! But I think we have to wait until at least the first test and then I can say “Look, I think I can do this or that…” The information about the first test is still incomplete, I have only heard rumours that it will be in March in Cremona, but the details are not confirmed.
You mentioned Beatriz Neila Santos, the only other Spanish rider confirmed in the world championship, for now. We have seen some intense racing between you, how would you describe your relationship and in general, how do you experience competition between women at this level?
I would say it’s the same as the competition you experience competing with males. In the end maybe it is a bit different because there are only a few of us, from Spain there is only Bea, Ana, María and me…With Bea there is a normal friendship and then this year she was also my team mate. Logically at the beginning of the championship everything goes well, you are ‘more friends’, but when you get to the end, the championship is at stake and it’s ‘either you or her’ it’s a bit different. But no problem, I’m happy and she’s great.
We will be watching you! Let’s talk about your team for a moment, we know it is very important to you, and you describe it on several occasions as a family. What role does it play in your success on the track? Would you like to tell us something particular about them?
Certainly the great particularity of my team is the fact that it is all female! My mechanic, my telemeter… all women! When they called me to race with them I immediately said yes, because for me it was a fantastic idea to have an all-women team! I thought it would be a bit more difficult at the beginning, but it was easier because we help each other in everything. I love them all and they love me, so without them none of this would be possible! We have been working together for two years already, this will be our third and with each weekend I have more confidence in them.
So there is great harmony to get the best result together.
Yes, it’s good like that, and it’s thanks to all of them that I can do what I do, in the end we work together and without the opportunity they gave me I wouldn’t have reached this level.
Now I have a slightly more personal question, we know you work and you also have a passion for motorbikes… how do you manage and balance these two things to do them both well?
It’s not easy! But I have to admit that at work I’m lucky to have a good boss and great colleagues who do everything for me! They tell me: “Sara, you have to ride! Go, we’ll stay!” I work Monday to Friday in theory, but when I have competitions I have to leave on Wednesday and come back the following Monday, so I don’t go to work, but then I make it up on Saturday and Sunday, I even go at Christmas when the offices are closed if I need to, I do it gladly because they do everything for me! Managing the two is difficult, though, because I lack the time to train more, and I regret that. But other female pilots are in the same situation, some do more and some do less….
Do you have a special training routine? Do you combine physical training with the track or do you only do track?
I actually do more physical than track, I really enjoy road biking. I do a lot, a lot of biking and then I train with my personal trainer three times a week, that helps a lot, and when I can I go to train weekends on the track with a KTM, and now I’m also looking for an R7 to train on (maybe I’ve already found someone who can help me, so I can work with that bike as well, and do a good championship).
And on a psychological level do you do anything in particular for concentration?
That’s the most important thing! In 2023 I started to go to the psychologist and it helped me a lot, she helped me a lot and last week I also had a coaching session with a coach called Miriam, for sure we will start to work together. She is a coach specialised in pilots and she is very good, so I hope to create a good relationship with her to put everything in place for the season.
You can see the difference of the pilots talking about it and sharing this experience, they are much more focused, they manage emotions better. Actually we should all have a coach!
Yes, exactly! Because in the end there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s a normal thing. Now it’s starting to be considered a bit more normal in our environment too.
Of course! To improve ourselves, to know how to handle difficulties and emotions and to bring out the best version of ourselves, right?
Oh yes! And then because a coach has a different view from yours, so she can give you another perspective, and what you thought was crap before becomes wonderful!
Exactly, a matter of different perspectives! So, speaking of motivation, could you give some advice to all the women in the MissBiker community, to those who might also want to pursue a professional career?
Look, I would just say that if you have the desire to learn you have to do it. In the end if there are no girls it’s not a problem, it’s not just a sport for boys! I’m sure we’re at the same level, so don’t be afraid, because we have hands and legs like them… and then we’re smarter and so we can do it even better than them!
You’re great, Sara! Thank you!!!
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