It is the sensational news that arrives on the eve of EICMA: Joan Barreda arrives at Team Hero Motorsport. It is a radical change, in a way a major rewinding of the tape to take a leap forward. Barreda is the protagonist of an at times bewildering career. He was, is, the fastest rider in the world, still able, now that the arrivals are flurries of riders in a handful of minutes, to open the track, navigate and 'rip' half an hour out of everyone. Barreda doesn't ride, he flies! The five victories at the Baja Aragon are there to prove it.

That doesn't mean winning all the time, sometimes even less than the minimum wage. Joan 'Bang Bang' has been racing the Dakar since 2011 and has yet to win the queen of Rally-Raids. Sometimes it has been a low blow of bad luck, many times the high price of an enormous generosity closely linked to an immense passion for motorbikes, for speed, for striving every minute for victory. Even when, at times, sparing oneself is advantageous. This is called character. It is the character of the thoroughbred.

On the eve of the Dakar 2024 Joan Barreda changes everything. He switches to Hero and the Indian marque 'atelier' run by the manager-artist who launched his career into orbit. Less than 60 days to experience, and for us to experience, Motorsport's strongest racing adventure in a completely new... yet already familiar.