Roma 5th and Esteve 9th in today’s stage. Coma crashes without consequences and finishes 21st. In the overall standings, Fretigne keeps the leadership, Esteve is 4th at 1.23, Roma 6th at 1.30 and Coma 7th at 2.03
Last special in Europe for the Dakar 2004. The participants will be crossing the Straits in a couple of hours to reach Morocco. Today’s stage included a 9 kilometres special held early in the morning in Castellón gathering a large number of fans. After the timed special, the caravan of the rally began a long trip, which will take them to Algeciras. The journey will end in the city of Tangier at about ten o’clock tonight.
David Fretigne keeps the leadership in the motorbike overall classification with Isidre Esteve fourth, Joan Roma sixth and Marc Coma seventh. There have only been little changes in the standings given the fact that all riders have been riding very cautiously. Marc Coma suffered a crash, fortunately without any consequences, and the differences between the main title candidates are very small.
Joan Roma: “Today’s stage, with a route on quite soft sand had its difficulties, a fact proven by the crashes, but the most important was entertaining the fans who came out to see us, and I think we did. There were a lot of people and it was a good day to say good-bye to all of them. Tomorrow, in Morocco, we’ll have a short special for a very long day, but the serious stuff won’t begin until the day after tomorrow “.
Isidre Esteve: The special in Castellón is usually the same every year. The terrain changes a lot and you have to ride carefully without taking any risks. That’s exactly what I did and everything went well “.
Marc Coma: “I wanted to get a good result in front of my family and friends who came out to say good-bye, but I crashed – fortunately without consequences – and it hasn’t been possible. Anyway, the real race is going to start now “.
Stage classification
1. Fretigne (Yamaha) 6.13
2. Despres (KTM) 6.14
5. Esteve (Repsol KTM) 6.31
9. Roma (Repsol KTM) 6.46
21. Coma (Repsol KTM) 7.14
General classification
1. Fretigne (Yamaha)
2. Despres (KTM) + 16
4. Esteve (Repsol KTM) + 1.23
6. Roma (Repsol KTM) + 1.30
7. Coma (Repsol KTM) + 2.03
Today´s stage
Castellón-Tánger. Liaison: 2 Kms. Special: 9 Km. Liaison: 820 Km. Total: 831 Km.
And tomorrow….
Tánger-Er Rachidia. Liaison: 233 Kms. Special: 75 Km. Liaison: 444 Km. Total: 752 Km.
