The final stage of the Rally Sardinia once again saw an excellent performance by Jordi Viladoms, but because of bad luck was not on the podium. After his victory yesterday he was 2nd in the overall, today he put in another great performance but just 3km from the finishing line of the first special he ran out of petrol. He pushed his bike to the finishing line and lost over 30 minutes. On the second special the Repsol rider was 3rd just five seconds behind the winner.
In spite of having to open the tracks up after winning yesterday, Jordi Viladoms took advantage of the good state of the tracks on today`s special and closed the gap on Despres, and widened the lead he had over the third placed rider. The special was 84km long on wide, fast sandy tracks, without any stones or other dangerous obstacles, which could be taken at high speed after overnight rain. But that also raised the fuel consumption on the KTM bike, and that is why it ran out of petrol just 3km from the finishing line, he lost 31 minutes.
The second special of the day was slower and more technical, and here navigation played a big role again. And rain began to fall halfway through and made the stony tracks, surrounded by a lot of vegetation, very slippery. In the end Viladoms was third just 5 seconds behind the fastest rider, and was 6th overall in this the third round of the World Raid Championship.
His teammate, Marc Coma, was taken to the USP Institut Universitari Dexeus hospital in Barcelona last night after falling on the fourth stage when he was the race leader. Dr. Xavier Mir, head of the Hand Surgery and Microsurgery Unit, gave him a check up and a CAT in 3 dimensions which confirmed two injuries: a fracture with several displaced fragments on his left collarbone, and a fracture on his left radius at the level of his wrist.
Marc Coma´s two fractures will be operated on tomorrow, Tuesday 2nd June, by Dr. Xavier Mir.
Jordi Viladoms
“What a day! I ran out of petrol 3km from the end and I had to push the bike to get to the finishing line. Last night it rained and the tracks were in a perfect state to go fast, so the consumption was very high. The second special went well although halfway through it began to rain and you had to ride carefully because of the stones and grass and you slid around a lot. In spite of the final result the review of the race is very good, because above all, I did the second half of the rally very well, winning 3 specials and doing some very good work. I rode fast, comfortably, and we will carry on working along these lines because it is clear that with patience the results will eventually come good.”
