Joan Barreda is doing some pretty impressive riding, for a guy in 30th place overall.
Barreda won his fourth stage of the Dakar rally yesterday, 1:15 ahead of 2012 champ Cyril Despres. But even though he’s doing some fantastic riding, he’s still way, way behind Despres, who moved into the overall lead yesterday. Ruben Faria, who’d held the lead, finished eighth in the day’s racing, dropping him to second overall.
Alessandro Botturi is still the highest-placed rider who isn’t aboard a KTM; he finished seventh yesterday, maintaining his fifth-overall slot in the overall standings.
Honda’s Helder Rodrigues is about ten minutes behind him. He’s been racing fairly consistently, and you can bet Big Red is hoping some late-race shifting in the standings will help Rodrigues move closer to the top.
Canadian Patrick Beaule is in 79th place in the scratch rankings.
Today’s La Rioja – Fiambalà stage features a 483-km special. You can see video highlights of Stage 10 here.
