Bike news from stage 10

stage 10  DaKAR 2012 - Argentina/Chile - January 11th, 2012


12:33 - bike 003 - At the foot of the podium

Behind the leading trio of the day made up of Joan Barreda Bort, Marc Coma and Cyril Despres, Helder Rodrigues has finished in fourth place, 5'16” behind the winner. Spaniard Jordi Viladoms is fifth 8'48” behind and Stefan Svitko finished in sixth position, 9'44” behind.


In seventh place, Norwegian Ullevalseter is 10'34” behind, ahead of Olivier Pain, 14'41” behind. In ninth position Dutchman Frans Verhoeven finished 14'59” behind and in tenth place Ruben Faria is 15'30” behind the day's winner.


Portugal's Paulo Goncalves will undoubtedly be disappointed, having led after the first few kilometres only to trail in 19'23” behind the day's quickest rider.



11:58 - bike 023 - Barreda Bort wins

The young Spaniard has confirmed the fine impression he has made since the start of the Dakar 2012 by winning the day's special with a time of 4:18'43”.


He beat his countryman Marc Coma by 1'32” and Frenchman Cyril Despres by 3'39”. The gap between the leaders in the general standings has shrunk, with only 21” between leader Despres and Coma in second place.



11:24 - bike 023 - Barreda Bort leads at CP3

Young Spanard Joan Barreda Bort has achieved the best time at CP3 with a total of 3:30'53”. He leads Marc Coma by 2'35”, Helder Rodrigues by 3'29”, Cyril Despres by 3'47”, Jordi Viladoms by 5'57”, Stefan Svitko by 6'24” and Pal Anders Ullevalseter by 8'15”. As for Paulo Goncalves, he trails by 14'21” after having lead at the first two intermediate check points.


11:03 - bike 001 - Coma still leads Despres at CP3

Although he is currently only second, 1'35” behind Joan Barreda Bort, Marc Coma still leads Cyril Despres at CP3 after 297 km of the special. The Spaniard is 2'12” ahead of the Frenchman.



10:52 - bike 005 - Engine problems for Pedrero Garcia

After making a navigation mistake, Spaniard Juan Pedrero Garcia stopped after 239 kilometres of the special stage 6 minutes ago, suffering from engine problems. Now back on the right track, Felipe Zanol has stopped to assist him.



10:50 - bike 008 - Navigation mistake

Several competitors took the wrong route after 238 km of the special and headed north instead of north east, including Ruben Faria, Juan Pedrero Garcia, Felipe Zanol and Gerard Fares Guell. For the moment, only Zanol is continuing in this direction.


09:57 - bike 032 - Svitko in the Top 5

The Slovak rider Stefan Svitko has moved into fifth place in the provisional standings, currently ahead of Frenchman Cyril Despres, but only by 4 seconds.


Behind him lies Spaniard Jordi Viladoms, 4'39” behind the leader of the special Paulo Goncalves, then Portugal's Ruben Faria, 4'52” behind. Pal Anders Ullevalseter is ninth, 5'11” behind.


Frans Verhoeven is in tenth position 6'04” behind, but at CP1 he was behind Juan Pedrero Garcia and Felipe Zanol who left after him this morning.



09:39 - bike 007 - Goncalves confirms his lead at CP2

The Portuguese rider is still in the lead at CP2 after 189 kilometres of the special with a time of 1:54'00”. He is 22” ahead of Joan Barreda Bort Vien, 1'13” in front of Marc Coma, 1'33” ahead of Helder Rodrigues and 2'53” in front of Cyril Despres.



09:23 - bike 001 - Coma still has the initiative at CP2

With a slightly smaller lead for Spaniard Marc Coma, he is now 1'40” ahead of Cyril Despres at CP2 after 189 kilometres.


09:22 - bike 007 - Goncalves takes the lead

Now it is the turn of Portugal's Paulo Goncalves to take the lead of the day's special in the bike category after 173 km, with a lead of 7” over the previous best performer: Joan Barreda Bort. Behind, his countryman Helder Rodrigues has moved in between Coma and Despres, in fourth provisional place, 1'45” behind the leader.


09:16 - bike 023 - Barreda leads at CP1...

At CP1 after 173 kilometres of the special stage, Spaniard Joan Barreda Bort is currently the quickest, with a time of 1:45'55”, leading his countryman Marc Coma by 35” and Cyril Despres by 2'24”.


09:10 - bike 002 - Hesitations amongst the leaders...

The bike race has just witnessed a short moment of hesitancy when Cyril Despres and Marc Coma left the route of the day's special for several minutes after 161 kilometres, following a gorge for several hundred metres. The two men then returned to the correct route.



08:46 - bike 014 - Casteu back on the tracks

Frenchman David Casteu has fixed the electrical problem he suffered earlier and has resumed the special. He has lost almost half an hour due to this incident.



08:30 - bike 014 - Casteu at a standstill

Frenchman David Casteu, who already had a difficult day yesterday, has again come to a halt on the special this morning, three kilometres after the start. According to the GPS, the bike belonging to the man from Nice has not moved for the last twenty minutes. Another French rider, Thierry Bethys also stopped for several minutes in the same place before resuming the race. Casteu appears to be suffering from technical problems again.



07:50 - bike The bikes start the special stage!

At 7.20 AM local time, the first bike, the KTM ridden by Cyril Despres entered the special stage. 377 kilometres of timed racing will again be the theatre for the duel between the leading pair, with Cyril Despres and Marc Coma having exchanged the command of the general standings over the last several days. In their wake, all eyes will also be on the superb struggle for the other positions in the Top 5.



07:44 - bike Penalties in the general standings...

As the rules state, Cyril Despres and Marc Coma now have a lead reduced by fifteen minutes over their nearest pursuers this morning. And they are not alone: indeed, all the competitors who have chosen to change their engine have received this time penalty.

In the case of the official KTM riders, this has not changed much, or at least only slightly. For the Portuguese rider Paulo Goncalves, however, this penalty has seen him slip back from fourth to seventh place, but he is still in the battle for the last step on the podium.



07:40 - bike 002 - First bike heads to the special

Cyril Despres is heading to the south of Iquique, along the Pacific coast first and then inland, to reach the start of the day's timed section, which measures 377 km in length.

Despres will open the road this Wednesday ahead of Marc Coma, his main rival in the general standings (trailing by 2'28”). Behind the leading pair, all eyes will also be on the struggle for third place between Portugal's Helder Rodrigues, Jordi Viladoms, Spaniard Gerard Farres Guell and Slovak Stefan Svitko, not forgetting Goncalves, Pedrero Garcia and Ullevalseter. 114 bikes have been authorised to take starter's orders today.



04:30 Iquique-Arica: five days from Lima...

With a total of 317 kilometres of link stage and a 377-km timed section, the tenth stage between Iquique and Arica, the last in Chile, once again promises to be exciting on the sporting front: there is hardly anything between Marc Coma and Cyril Despres with neither a clear favourite.


Similarly, the standings in the car category are just as tight and it is impossible to make a confident prediction. At the very most, it can only be assumed that the name of Patronelli will appear at the top of the quad standings and it can only be observed that Gerard De Rooy boasts an increasing amount of assurance out in front in the truck category.


The riders and crews will have to concentrate throughout this day that will take them along the ring of fire. At the start of the special, they will be blown over by a spectacular view, mixing sand and waves, lasting for several kilometres. Sand will indeed become a theme of the day, since the dunes stretch out over one hundred kilometres and will be crested like waves by the most proficient experts.


However, the tricky zone of fesh-fesh to be tackled at the end of the special will bring everyone back to the tough reality of the rally-raid discipline.




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