The organisers of the Rally of Tunisia decided to suspend the special programmed for today, Monday, owing to a sandstorm that blew uip yesterday and which has shown no signs of abating. There were even some participants who did not reach the bivouac until this morning, and those that had have hardly rested because of the strong wind. This is what caused the organisers to suspend the sixth stage as it prevented the helicopters from taking off. And so the classification is unchanged; the Repsol rider Marc Coma is still at the top of the leaderboard, with a lead of 3 minutes 41 seconds. His teammate Jordi Viladoms, who lost 22 minutes yesterday, is sixth 40 minutes behind the leader, although a podium finish is just six minutes and one second away.
That Marc Coma was able to say that last night was one of the toughest ever in the desert for him, somebody who has won the Dakar two times and has been crowned World Champion three times and so a rider who feels at home in Africa, is significant. It was an especially tough special, over 560km long, that meant six hours on the motorbike. Moreover, as it was a marathon stage, the riders had to spend the night without any assistance, adding even more obstacles on a day that was already extremely tiring.
And to round it all off, today a sandstorm added to the difficulties, some of the participants had to spend the night exposed to the elements in the middle of the desert, incapable of reaching the end of the stage before nightfall. The riders that did reach the bivouac in Oubari had to check and service their motorbikes theselves because it was classed as a marathon stage with the assistance trucks and teams travelling to the finishing line of today`s stage.
After preparing today`s roadbook, and when it finally seemed that they could regain some beneficial sleep, their rest was rudely interrupted at 3am by the wind that blew down the large tent that the orgaanisers had erected for the riders to sleep in. They were able to find refuge in a second tent, the ones used by the organisers and officials, until day finally broke.
Tomorrow`s stage will take place in Libyan territory again and is 410km long, 397 of them against the clock.
Marc Coma
“The night was something incredible. After yesterday`s really tough stage, with some participants not having been able to reach the bivouac until this morning, today`s special was cancelled. The sandstorm was still going on and the helicopters could not take off, but we did not get any shut eye last night either. At 3am the tent where the participants were sleeping was blown down and we had to find our things the best we could because they were being blown away by the wind. On the stage, the same situation as in the Dakar was repeated. We came across land where the tyres with mousse suffered a lot, so the night before we decided to use inner tubes. This means keeping a close eye on them and going slow in stony areas, but you can go faster on the sand. This is turning into a really tough rally, taking us to the limit, and it still hasn´t finished yet. Tomorrow there is another tough day in store for us, almost 400km of special, and after that another two stages with dunes, like today`s should have been. I hope I don`t have any problems and nothing occurs to us.”
Jordi Viladoms
“Yesterday`s stage was a pity because even though it was a very tough special I was going really well, until I made a mistake with the navigation. The other riders also made the same mistake at the same point but were able to find the right track quicker than me, I got even more lost and I had to go back 10km, and that was in addition to the time that I had lost. Anyway I am still in good spirits, above all because I feel fine on the motorbike, I have a good pace, and there is a lot of race left. I hope I can get some rest, because after yesterday`s stage we could not get any. The sandstorm did not let us sleep.”
