Barring disaster, the winners of both the motorcycle and car divisions seem to be set with only two days left in the Dakar Rally.
Last year’s winner Cyril Despres did what he could in Stage 11, winning the stage over this year’s leader Marc Coma by more than two minutes, but that still leaves Coma 16 minutes ahead.
Despres must be shaking his head, thinking about the 10-minute penalty he got early in the rally for using the wrong gate at the starting line to return for some gloves.
Said the French KTM rider, “I’m trying. I’m doing everything I can, everything I know. It has to be said it was a superb special. Even if the time wasn’t great, it was a pleasure to ride. In 2007, I won two days before the finish … I’m still hoping and carrying on attacking.”
The stage win was the 26th in Despres’ remarkable Dakar history.
Third on the day and still third overall is Chilean ace Francisco Lopez Contardo and his Aprilia. He was looking good for the stage victory until a late navigational error cost him time.
Hector Rodrigues of Portugal took his Yamaha to fourth on the day; again, he’s fourth overall.
"Today was a great day,” said Coma, “It was a hard day, though, and very long with a lot of rocks and dry river beds … A calm approach is best: if something happens, then I’ll just have to adapt, but if I take things professionally, then it should all be okay."
On the car side, Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah virtually wrapped up his win when he took the stage victory, while defending champion Carlos Sainz saw his hopes ended after spending over an hour repairing a broken front suspension caused when he hit a large hole hidden in a dust cloud.
The second-last day of the Dakar will see another long Special Stage of 555 km in a day totalling 678 km. The first 100 km is through heavy sand, while much of the remainder is gravel and rocky terrain with big elevation changes throughout the day. For the first time in this rally, the trucks are leaving first, which may cause problems for the bikes with dust and ruts in the first sandy section.
