The Dakar 2009 held its first special inside Chile today, with a leg of 652 kilometres, of these 294km were the special timed section and the remaining 358km liaisons. Marc Coma put in a faultless performance again, maintainng his fast but safe pace, without taking any unnecessary risks and planning the legs, with the rest of the team, correctly.
Today was a sort of transition leg towards the north of the country, finishing close to the Atacama desert. There were no problems posed by the navigation, the special went along tracks between small mountains and plateaus, the average speed for motorbikes was around 70km/h.
The Team Repsol KTM rider, and rally leader, was second today 1 minute 49 seconds behind the Frenchman Despres. Coma, Despres and the local rider Chaleco López, who was third today at 2 minutes 56 seconds, rode practically the whole special together. Fretigne is now second in the overall 1 hour 6 minutes behind Coma, whilst the American Street, second this morning, fell down to fourth in the overall after being penalised by the organisers with 18 minutes because he had replaced the engine on the rest day and for speeding.
Jordi Viladoms, who got a penalty yesterday after being caught in a speed trap – riding over the permitted speed at a control during the Mendoza-Valparaíso leg – set the fifth fastest time, 13 minutes 12 seconds off the best time in the special. However, the 20 minute penalty moved him down to sixth in the overall, 1 hour 55 minutes behind his teammate Marc Coma.
Gerard Farrés, put in another good performance, he was seventh and only 16 minutes behind the winner. Gerard was affected by his injured wrist, although fortunately the stage was not especially complicated. With this result and that of his teammate Viladoms, all the Team Repsol KTM riders will be among the first to start tomorrow –Coma second, Viladoms fifth and Farrés seventh – and so Marc Coma the leader will have some excellent protection.
Tomorrow sees the ninth leg, between la Serena and Copiapó, with a 371km special. It will be a very fast stage, the average speed is reckoned to be 130 – 140 km/h, which takes the riders to the Atacama desert, the most arid in the world. Many dunes alternating with stony tracks are what are in store in what will be a typical leg in the Dakar, which together with the next two are the decisive ones in this race. It will be important for the riders to ration their strength as it seems that the Copiapó loop the following day will be very tough.
Marc Coma >> Audio
“Today the special was very technical, a transition as we go towards the Atacama desert. There were 300km in the mountains, with very slippery tracks where you skidded a lot and which meant you had to pay a lot of attention when braking as the distance needed was much longer than normal, and if there was a surprise on any curve you could be out of the race. You had to find a compromise between speed and safety, and it went well, riding practically the whole leg with Cyril [Despres] and “Chaleco” [López]. The final part was a little more complicated as we had done a lot of kilometres and the tyre was suffering quite badly. Today we used run-flat mousse and that worked very well. Tomorrow we have an authentic desert stage.”
Jordi Viladoms >> Audio
“This was not an easy leg because I rode the whole of it worrying about the rear tyre as we were on a very hard track – with a little sand – and it was very slippery. It was in between mountains, with ups and downs, jumps and it was a bit dangerous. Sliding around so much I feared that the tyre, today run-flat mousse, would get too hot and would melt, so I tried to ride more conservatively, anticipating when to brake much more than usual, taking corners a little faster so as not to accelerate a lot when leaving them, and changing gear earlier. I was totally concentrated the whole leg so as to maintain the tyre and protect the engine, but without losing too much time.”
Gerard Farrés >> Audio
“Today`s leg was quite short. The truth is that it turned out very well for us, but it was one of the worst days for my wrist, an injury I got in Dubai. Luckily the leg was easy, even though we were in the mountains there were no bumps and that made the ride easier. It was a stage with little navigation, and basically the only thing thing you had to take special care with was the braking as it was very slippery. But we had a good pace and I finished seventh not far behind my teammates, just in case they needed something. The bike went very well and I am pleased to have got here.”
