Esteve finishes second and consolidates his leadership in the motorbike class
Tomorrow the Dakar will leave Morocco with Isidre Esteve and Joan Roma on the first two spots of the motorbike overall standings. Joan won today’s stage ahead of Isidre after a long and very demanding special of 351 kilometres. The three Repsol KTM riders managed to finish the stage despite some mechanical problems.
Esteve, who started first, needed Roma’s help to finish because his Tripmaster (the mechanism that measures the exact distance covered) got broken. Without it, Esteve was not able to follow exactly the indications of the road book and therefore he waited for Roma at the refuelling point in order to follow him and reach the finish. They quickly agreed that the first one would tell the second about any incidence, because the special, that combined roads filled with stones, fast sections, trial oueds (dry riverbeds) and ditches, crossed a military area. Therefore the route had been beaconed and the riders were warned not to leave the signalled area.
Marc Coma had a big fright after his bike lost one of the screws that fixed the handlebar and Marc suddenly found himself in a very fast section with the handlebar almost in his hands. He was forced to ride very slowly until he met Giovanni Sala, who had suffered a very strong crash. Coma helped the Italian, activated the emergency beacon and since his bike would not continue in the race, he took the piece he needed for his handlebar in order to finish the stage.
The authentic Dakar starts tomorrow with a stage covering 1055 kilometres, 701 of which will be timed. The stage will be run in Mauritania, meaning that the participants will find themselves in the middle of the desert, where navigation will be one of the most important aspects. There will be more than 200 kilometres where they will have to ride at top speed, meaning that the advantage will be for Meoni and his twin-cylinder bike. The riders will also find dunes, “chotts” (dry lakes), navigation passes between valleys and an “erg” (a sea of dunes) with a single valid pass.
However, the crash and later retirement of Sala, Meoni’s squire, will condition the Italian’s riding style, who will have to be quite prudent. The team’s tactics for tomorrow will be the following: Roma and Esteve will have to work together again and the plan is to let them ride together during the 701 kilometres in order to switch positions taking the lead in turns, given the fact that Nani will have to open the race.
Isidre Esteve: “This has been the second toughest stage of the rally. It was very nice, with a lot of stones and dust, difficult overall. I started first and was eager to check my navigation. I didn’t make any mistake but I had bad luck and broke one of the “trips”, the distance measuring systems. It broke down for the first time at kilometre 100. I stopped and fixed it but eighty kilometres later it broke down again. There were twenty kilometres left for the refuelling and I arrived there almost blindly, with the help of the GPS. When Nani arrived we tried to fix it but we couldn’t, so I followed him until we reached the finish”.
Joan Roma: “I’m happy to have finished today’s stage well, without problems. The fact of winning is actually an anecdote. We know that tomorrow we’ll loose some time with regard to Meoni who will be starting behind us and we’ll have to open the route, but we already count on that. We’ll get up at one o’clock in the morning to face an extremely hard stage”.
Marc Coma: “I had mechanical problems. I lost one of the fixing screws of the handlebar and it was almost loose. It was very dangerous and I had to ride very slowly. I found Giovanni Sala who had suffered an accident and I stopped to activate his emergency beacon and see how he was. His bad luck helped me because I took the screw from his bike and thus was able to finish. Tomorrow’s stage will be extremely hard and now we’ll try to get some sleep”.
Jordi Arcarons: “Today’s stage has been very nice and the performance of the riders has been intelligent, allowing them to reach the finish in good conditions. Isidre had problems, Nani helped him and they made a great job together to reach the finish. Marc had bad luck because a screw of the handlebar loosened creating a dangerous situation. Sala’s bad luck was his help. He lost a lot of time but he is still in the race and that’s the most important”.
Stage classification
1. Roma (Repsol KTM) 3.32.26
2. Esteve (Repsol KTM) + 2.25
3. Caldecott (KTM) + 3.41
4. Despres (KTM) + 4.03
52. Coma (Repsol KTM) + 1.03.28
General classification
1. Esteve (Repsol KTM)
2. Roma (Repsol KTM) + 1.54
3. Despres (KTM) + 2.30
4. Meoni (KTM) + 4.32
22. Coma (Repsol KTM) + 1.15.12
Today´s stage
Ouarzazate-Tan Tan. Liasion: 176 Kms. Special: 351 Km. Liasion: 276 Km. Total: 803 Km.
And tomorrow…
Tan Tan-Atar. Liasion: 345 Kms. Special: 701 Km. Liasion: 9 Km. Total: 1.055 Km.
