Dakar 2003. 10th stage: Zilla-Sarir

Marc Coma fifth and Nani Roma getting ready to go back home
Nani will have to stop in Cairo where he’ll have a magnetic resonance
 Once again Marc Coma has managed to arrive among the leading riders of the Dakar, finishing fifth fastest of the tenth stage. Coma is already ninth in the overall classification, which is lead with authority by Richard Sainct after the engine problems suffered today by the other favourite, Fabrizio Meoni, who lost more than half an hour. Coma was delighted to have finished this stage, in which the use of GPS was forbidden, without problems. ‘I caught Brucy and made the whole stage with him ‘, said the Spanish rider when he arrived at the finish. Nani Roma is already heading for home. The Spanish rider left at noon on a medical plane that took him to Cairo. This afternoon he’ll have a magnetic resonance at the International Hospital of the Egyptian capital, to be 100% sure that he has no back injury at all. The organisation has made a reservation on an Iberia flight that will take off from Cairo at 1.15 a.m. on Monday, although he might be flying back earlier if an earlier flight admits the stretcher Roma needs for transport. In any case, the Spanish rider was very encouraged this morning and was already thinking about next year: ‘I feel much better today. I’m really bruised from the accident, but the back, what hurt me most, does bother me a lot less. I’ll soon be back on the bike’. This morning Roma was already able to get up and eat and to move his right hand well. Isidre Esteve will finish his trip back home today by plane, flying from Tripoli to London and then to Barcelona. His arrival is scheduled for tonight at 22.05 hours in Iberia 7455 flight from Heathrow.  Stage Classifiction 1º LUNDMARK 2º DESPRES + 3′ 47′ 3º SAINCT + 4′ 34′ 4º DE GAVARDO + 4′ 36’5º COMA + 4′ 40’21º MEONI + 40′ 58′ Overall Classification 1º SAINCT 2º DESPRES + 11′ 03′ 3º MEONI + 37′ 34′ 4º BRUCY + 47′ 41′ 5º DE AZEVEDO + 55′ 10’9º COMA + 1h 53′ 36′