Yesterday`s stage victory for Marc Coma promised a tough day for the Repsol rider today, as he was obliged to open up the tracks on this the third stage. Coma ended the first special of the day in third position, 1 minute 56 seconds behind Cyril Despres, and in second position on the second, 14 seconds behind his teammate, Jordi Viladoms. The latter made a mistake with one of the notes on the first special and lost 5 minutes 25 seconds, but his victory in the second meant that he recovered some time and is still in the fight to be on the podium at the end of the race.
Navigation is still the key to this rally, and the two specials today, of 65km and 50km, were once again along small tracks and fire breaks, with many changes of direction which obliged the riders to pay all their attention to the notes in the Roadbook. The riders are now in the most southerly part of the island, a mountainous zone with little vegetation and more stones, but just as technical, and where there will be two specials tomorrow: one of 95km and the other of 62km. There will be the added difficulty of it being a marathon stage, so on the eve of the final stage of this the third round of the World Championship, the riders will not have any assistance.
Marc Coma
“Things went quite well, because this stage had some very difficult navigation. And I had to open up the tracks and that always complicates things even more, especially here where we have come across some very high vegetation. The first special was in a zone of fire breaks, along narrow tracks and with many changes of direction. The second, at the most southerly part of the island had more stones, but always on very small technical tracks. Tomorrow we have the marathon stage, and absolutely nothing has been decided yet so we will have to carry on riding taking a lot of precautions.”
Jordi Viladoms
“These were two specials with a lot of navigation, on the first I made a mistake at one point and I got lost for a few minutes. I had problems keeping the pace we had maintained so far and to follow the notes in the roadbook at the same time. On the second I had learnt my lesson and I was much more concentrated, I slowed down a little and in the end things went much better. I am pleased because what I did not do on the first special I did on the second and luckily I was able to make up some of the lost ground. Starting at the front it was easy to get lost, but things went well. We still have a good chance of finishing on the podium, and we will continue to fight over the next couple of days, always paying attention.”
