They don’t really care who is the fastest of the two at the end of the Dakar Rally. It is more important for brothers Ben and William de Groot that they reach the finish of the toughest rally in the world through Saudi Arabia. Both fruit and vegetable traders in their own racing truck. “I believe everyone wants to be in the top three, but the podium is really too small for that.”
Relaxed, but attentive, Ben and William de Groot walk through their branch in Breda. One person stirs the spinach and the other squeezes a mandarin orange. At De Groot Groente en Fruit, trade revolves around quality. It’s their life. “This is where our passion lies,” says Ben de Groot. “We used to be born in a fruit box. We work on it from early to late.”
“You never know when you’ll make it to the finish line.”
The Dakar Rally comes in a close second. This also makes the two brothers’ hearts beat faster. It is pure adrenaline,” says brother William. “You know the start is there, but you never know whether you will reach the finish line. That is always uncertain.
Watch Bivak Brabant Dakar here to see how the people of Brabant experience the toughest rally in the world.
Waiting for privacy settings…
Like brothers, they run a large company together, each with their own task. During the Dakar Rally they are also one team, but they both drive their own truck. “Like brothers, we are a positive and negative pole,” William continues. “Everyone wonders who is the plus and who is the minus, haha. I am very happy that he is going to the Dakar Rally. He has already gotten me out of trouble there. Just like in our company, we are one team.”
“It’s really nice to do this with my brother, because alone is only alone,” Ben adds. “I learn from him and he from me. It’s about us doing fun things together.”
While walking through the store, the pair pauses at the hundreds of boxes of bananas. They beam. “This is great,” says Ben. “They are nice medium sizes and still a bit green. Then they are ready for the consumer on time. Quality is important to us and we are always working on that.”
“The Dakar Rally is therefore a way to completely disconnect from the company,” he continues. “Just clear your head completely.” William shares that view. “In this business you have to think every minute about what the customer wants and what does or does not make money. The Dakar Rally is mainly physically demanding, but mentally relaxing.”
Yet it would have made little difference whether both gentlemen would have missed the Dakar Rally this year. That was not due to William’s crash last time. “Apart from a dent in my ego, I didn’t gain anything from it,” he says, laughing. The problem was Ben’s injury. “Something went wrong during an operation on my hand,” he says. “I now have a kind of stimulator running to my spinal cord. But the nerve pain is almost gone and the doctor allows me to drive.”
“You can’t stop with the Dakar Rally, it’s a kind of addiction.”
Ben has to admit that he and his brother actually didn’t want to go anymore. “I have kept that up for a long time, because we are also getting older. And if I don’t go, William won’t go either. But eventually you make the decision to participate again, because it is a kind of addiction. You can Don’t stop, because it’s just mighty beautiful.”
And so Ben and William de Groot are there again. Which of the brothers will finish first? “William is naturally a wilder driver,” says Ben. “That’s against my nature, but you sometimes need that. But it is also a game where you sometimes have to drive conservatively. And luck plays a major role.”
“We’re not going to make it a competition,” William concludes. “The most important thing is that we both reach the finish line.”
