Bikes first news from Dakar stage 11 13.01.2017: Dakar Rally 2017 Stage 11 San Juan - Río Cuarto 759 km Friday, January 13th 2017

Dakar Rally 2017
Stage 11 San Juan - Río Cuarto 759 km
Friday, January 13th 2017





bike 025 - Cervantes drops out


Iván Cervantes has not managed to repair his KTM. The Spaniard has finally decided to exit the race, which means the general standings loses the 15th placed rider two days before the end of the race.




bike 006 - Van Beveren in second at the first portion's end


Adrien Van Beveren is maintaining his pace and the Frenchman has completed the first section of the special only 30 seconds behind Paulo Gonçalves. The two men look set to contest the stage victory today.




 bike 014 - Easy does it for Sunderland


The general standings leader is not taking excessive risks, but is not crawling along either. Super Sam Sunderland has finished the first section of the special 2 seconds behind Joan Barreda and 3'22 behind the current stage leader Paulo Gonçalves. Matthias Walkner continues to lose time, trailing the day's fastest man so far by 7'47.




bike 011 - Gonçalves leads at the first portion's end


Paulo Gonçalves' momentum is not slowing and he has finished the first portion of the special with the best time so far, three minutes ahead of Pierre-Alexandre Renet. Joan Barreda is currently in provisional third place.





- bike 006 - Van Beveren on the attack!

Disappointed with his performance on the difficult stage 10, Adrien Van Beveren has gone back on the attack today to recover his place on the podium in the general standings. The Frenchman leads Paulo Gonçalves by 11 seconds at CP1 and is now the fastest man on the special.




bike 011 - Barreda finishes the first portion


Joan Barreda has completed the first portion of the special before a long neutralised zone stretching over 367 km. Afterwards, a second 173-km awaits the competitors.




bike 016 - Walkner loses time

Matthias Walkner is having a bad start to the special: he is already 5'28 behind Paulo Gonçalves after only 53 km. His team-mate Sam Sunderland is untroubled, 1'49 behind the stage leader.





bike Cervantes falls and damages his bike


Iván Cervantes has fallen after 75 km of the special and has bent a wheel on his KTM. The Spaniard is trying to repair it, but it looks like being a complicated task, meaning the 15th placed rider in the general standings is in great difficulty.




bike 017 - Best time for Gonçalves


Paulo Goncalves has improved on the time set by Pierre-Alexandre Renet at CP1, beating it by 48 seconds. The Portuguese rider is the new provisional leader of the special.





bike 031 - Renet leads at CP1


Pierre-Alexandre Renet has started this penultimate stage on top form. The Frenchman has reached CP1 with the best time, 25 seconds ahead of this year's revelation Franco Caimi.




bike 015 - Metge at a standstill

Michael Metge, yesterday's stage winner until he was penalised for missing a way point, has ground to a halt after only 14 kilometres. Perhaps the Honda rider has a technical problem.




bike 023 - De Soultrait has nothing to lose now


Xavier de Soultrait finished the stage in San Juan 57 minutes behind Joan Barreda and lost any chance of a result in the general standings.


The Frenchman can therefore throw caution to the wind and go on the attack to try and obtain his first stage victory.



- ASO  also photo Yamaha