Today the second stage of the Rally Dos Sertoes took place, 222Km of time racing between the town of Río Verde and Aruanã. Brazilian rider José Hélio took the victory with an advantage of 40 seconds over Cyril Després, leader of the general classification, and 1 minute 45 secs ahead of Marc Coma, who was third. The Repsol rider finished the race satisfied with the fact that there were none of the problems he had yesterday with his tyres, which prevented him from completing a good stage.
Teammate Jordi Viladoms was seventh today, once again carrying out some very important teamwork. The Repsol rider fitted his KTM with tyres using a traditional inner tube, in case the tyres of team leader Marc Coma had the same problem as yesterday, so they could have a spare tyre in good condition. The problem with tyres that use a traditional inner tube is that they need much more pressure and the risk of a puncture is greater, meaning Viladoms had to maintain a careful pace. In addition to the problems he had yesterday, he was encumbered by the dust kicked up by the rivals who had started before, and was unable to pass them until near the end of the stage.It was quite a slower and more technical special than yesterday’s, more similar to an enduro race due to the ease of navigation. This type of stage is not very favourable for such large bikes, designed specifically for the desert, and which under these conditions require a much greater physical effort. Tomorrow the third stage, of 260Km, will be disoputed between Aruanã and Niquelandia, right before the first of the two marathon races included in this rally.Marc Coma, 3rd at 1 minute 45 secsToday went better, and we were able to pick up our pace again because the tyres performed perfectly. In any case, I didn’t ride too fast, as it’s only the second stage and there are two quite tough marathons ahead of us. Now it’s important not to lose any time and not to take any risks, because we have nothing to lose. I’m pleased; everything’s going well for now, both the bike, which is performing correctly, and the tyres, which didn’t give us any problems. And I feel very happy myself to be competing again.Jordi Viladoms, 7th at 7 minutes and 1 secsToday we kind of paid for yesterday’s bad result, because I started off quite far back and had to put up with a lot of dust, with the added difficulty when I wanted to overtake. I started off very far behind and wasn’t able to pass Rubén Farias almost until the end of the stage. What’s more, I had to ride quite carefully, because we fitted a tyre with an inner tube instead of the usual mousse, in order to have a tyre in condition in case, like yesterday, Marc Coma’s tyre desintegrated again. But luckily the mousse tyres performed properly again; let’s see if we can concentrate exclusively on the race tomorrow.
