To fly you only need two wheels

English, Spanish, French

*Marc*

It felt like we had just started when I could already see the board on the pit wall that there were only two laps to go.

I was in 2nd place, close to Pecco who had the lead since the start. But I wanted more.

I had completely blown the start. It had been my fault. My fault alone and I didn't want to let my team down. They had given everything and I really wanted to win this sprint. I wanted to prove that I still had it.

And after dropping four places at the start, I had now fought my way up well, but Pecco was just too strong.

I put myself deeper on the bike again and pushed the limits of the machine and my own, only to go beyond that. I had to do more. Push myself further.

And then I heard, in my head, Kariss. We had gone over every corner in the pre-ride meeting. Every straight, every chicane, every little bump. She practically guided me over the track and I could see how I was getting closer and closer to Pecco.

I had a chance to catch him.

Then I crossed the finish line. Last lap and I was within striking distance. Now it was all about everything. And I heard Kariss in my head. She led me around the track and then I was in Pecco's slipstream and I knew I could get him.

I turned the throttle all the way up and shot past Pecco. I just listened to what Kariss was telling me. Even though she wasn't really talking to me. We didn't have a radio like in Formula 1, but I could still hear her. Her voice had burned itself completely into my head in the last two days.

She had a pleasant warm voice and a barely noticeable accent when she spoke English. Her Spanish had no accent and sounded simply adorable. I had never heard her speak French before. Maybe I should ask her about it sometime. After all, it was her native language. So far, however, we had spoken to each other in English most of the time. Now and then it had also been Spanish. But since Leo didn't understand that, it had happened only rarely.

That my boys liked her, though, I could understand. I had a lot of Spaniards on the team, and the way she spoke Spanish, it didn't surprise me that she already had the team in the bag.

And if she kept it up, it was only a matter of time before she had me in the bag, too.

Whereby. She probably had me wrapped around her finger already.

Because in addition to her voice and her scent, her laugh had already burned itself into my head. I had been startled tonight because I had heard her laughing so clearly that I had believed she had been standing next to my bed.

I had been almost a little disappointed that she wasn't when I was fully awake.

And now, with her voice in my head telling me exactly where to go, I drove one last strong lap.

Pecco was no longer within striking distance and I crossed the finish line as the winner.

A thousand butterflies broke loose in my stomach. An unbelievable feeling of happiness ran through my entire body.

I started to cry with happiness.

It was only a sprint, but it was a victory.

It was a victory and I could hardly believe my luck right now as I drove towards the parc fermé.  My heart was pounding fastly in my chest.

I only had my team to thank for the win. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have ridden like that. The bike had been set up so well that I could go beyond the limits with it.

I was still sobbing as I rode towards Leo, who stopped my bike and grinned all over his face.

I fell into his arms and sobbed even more as I flipped up the visor of my helmet a bit.