Dakar 2004. Stage 15

Joan Roma manages the last marathon stage without problems
The Repsol KTM rider has a 7.07 advantage over Richard Sainct
Bit by bit Nani Roma is getting closer to his big target. With an intelligent performance, the Repsol KTM rider managed the second half of the marathon stage that took the participants to Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania. The stage, with a long special of 579 kilometres, was not easy at all. The riders had to run more than 200 kilometres off-road through areas with a lot of vegetation and all kinds of traps.Roma had an advantage of nine minutes over Sainct. The French rider started behind the Spaniard and made up the two minutes of the start interval, something already expected. From that moment on both favourites rode together on a more comfortable and compact track than expected due to last night’s rainfall. The humidity was very high in Tidjikja when the riders took the start. Isidre Esteve finished the stage but the support of his GPS got broken so he was forced to stop to make an emergency repair.At the end of the stage, Richard Sainct almost suffered a serious fall in front of Nani but he avoided it in extremis, and increased the pace taking some risks to reduce some seconds of the difference in the overall standings. The gap between both riders is of seven minutes and seven seconds, with two special stages left to the end of the race.Tomorrow there will be a 192 kilometres special which will cross the border between Mauritania and Senegal, but the riders won’t be allowed to use the GPS, so navigation will be highly important. The riders will find very high dunes, fast tracks and sections with vegetation.Joan Roma: ‘From CP1 to CP2 the route was quite complicated, with a physically hard ground, vegetation and several traps. I waited for Sainct and went on behind him, thus riding comfortably letting him set the pace. He increased the pace in the final section but I followed his rhythm. We finished the stage in good conditions, the bike is perfect and everything is working out the way we expected. Tomorrow’s stage will be a delicate one because we cannot use the GPS, but it will be delicate for all of us. I would be more worried if it would be a very marked route because then Sainct would go for all and I would also have to ride fast. He cannot take any risk because if he gets lost he could even put the second place in danger. Ease for tomorrow, even if I loose two or three minutes ‘.Isidre Esteve: ‘It hasn’t been an easy day. The first hundred kilometres had soft sand and stones, difficult to ride. Then we found two hundred kilometres of off-road tracks with a lot of navigation and a very fast section where the support of the navigation instruments got broken. I was forced to stop to fix everything’.Carlo de Gavardo: ‘Everything went fine, with a nice route. The race is coming to its end and since it had rained a bit the ground had more grip. We were able to ride fast without taking too many risks. The bike worked perfectly well and although there were 579 very hard kilometres I’ve been able to enjoy them’.Marc Coma: ‘I’m getting better and the sensations are better as well. My hand hurts less and my head is getting better as well. A couple of showers have made me feel fantastic’.Jordi Arcarons: ‘We’ve had the stage well under control. Sainct had to attack and he did, and Nani marked him without taking any risk because it made no sense. We have to know how to administer this advantage until the end considering tomorrow’s stage as the last obstacle’.Stage classification1. Meoni (KTM) 6.55.46 2. Sainct (KTM) + 463. Roma (Repsol KTM) + 3.19 6. Esteve (Repsol KTM) + 15.0310. De Gavardo (KTM) + 38.29  Overall classification1. Roma (Repsol KTM) 2. Sainct (KTM) + 7.07 3. Despres (KTM) + 46.29 6. De Gavardo (KTM) + 3.01.0421. Esteve (Repsol KTM) + 11.54.41Today´s stage Tidjikja-Nouakchott. Liaison: 2 Km. Special 579 Km. Liaison: 71 Km. Total: 652 Km.And tomorrow…. Nouakchott-Dakar. Liaison: 60 Km. Special 192 Km. Liaison: 396 Km. Total: 648 Km.