The sixth stage of the Rally Dos Sertoes was considered crucial in the final outcome of the race, and so it was; the Repsol rider Marc Coma, the leader of the race Cyril Despres and many others all had tyre problems. Yesterday`s special was the longest in the rally, a timed 536km. the first part which was very fast, was critical for the participants` mousse.
In Coma`s case, after 160km his rear tyre fell apart, and with three-quarters of the stage ahead of him he decided to mount a conventional tyre. To round the day off with 65km left he had a puncture which made him slow down making him lose even more time.His teammate Jordi Viladoms, who had to retire from the rally with engine problems, had a tough day yesterday. The Repsol rider rejoined the race but as the tail-ender and this meant that he was behind much slower riders. In the fast zone, with all the dust lifted by the convoy, it was practically impossible for him to recover any positions. He had to ride slowly until he reached the more technical zones, where he had the additional problem of the tiredness at the end of this tough stage, but he was able to overtake over 20 rivals. At the end of the day he was 5th, 25 minutes behind the winner and so he will once again be able to start among the most competitive riders in the rally and so continue to compete at the highest level. The new leader of the rally is José Hélio.Marc ComaThe start of the stage was very fast and the same problem as on the first day was repeated. On such fast stages, the mousse that we use does not last long and at killometre 160 I had to stop and to put a tyre on, because there were more than 380 timed killometres left. Later, the special slowed down a lot, it became more technical and difficult to move through the terrain. Compared to the rest of the race perhaps today there was a little more navigation, but nothing comparable to what we are used to. The tracks were half sandy, medium-hard, but it was not a very pleasant ride. Then, what is more, I had a puncture about 65km from the finish, and I had to ride very slowly.Jordi ViladomsToday I have swallowed a lot of dust. They made me start last and on the fast part at the beginning it was impossible to overtake. I took 50km to overtake the first rider because there was so much dust. The first 270km I did at an average of 70km/h but then I arrived at the re-fuelling. Later, the special became slower and sandier, with a little wind, and there was not as much dust, so I was able to start overtaking. The advantage that I had is that because I was not able to ride fast at the beginning my tyres were not too bad and I was able to go fast the rest of the stage. It was dangerous, because dust clouds are lifted and these do not let you see anything as you approach the rivals ahead of you, and to overtake you must take risks in the slowest zones where there is less dust.
