Dakar Rally Stage 4 – Jujuy to CalamaCyril Despres opened the Dakar Rally strong with two stage wins, but his KTM rival Marc Coma was always close behind. Coma closed the gap to just 14 seconds during yesterday's stage, and took the lead ahead of Despres today.
The Spaniard was the first off of the line today, which is the most difficult position in the Dakar since there are no tracks to follow, but handled the pressure with ease. Coma lead the rest of the Dakar rally over the Andes Mountains, through the desert, and into Chile.
“It was a very important day for me, even if it was only a 207-km stage,” Coma said. “It was difficult to open the way. I’m happy and I felt great. I hope it stays like that right until the end. The general standings don’t matter for the moment. The most important thing will be the last day. It’s essential to have a good pace and avoid making mistakes. Now we’ll have to deal with two very difficult stages.”
Coma led by as much as 32 seconds during today's stage but at the end, Coma could only maintain slight lead over his rival. Despres and Coma both have two stage wins now, and are separated by just two seconds.
“For this type of terrain that’s so different you need to change the way your brain’s wired,” said Despres. “There’s no more hard ground, just desert, off-track riding and surfaces which break up. For a first day in the sand, it was a good start to the desert stages. Today, Marc Coma rode a great stage. It’s a superb battle with Marc. Today again we opened up a little more of a gap on the others. This evening, I’m in second, 2 seconds behind. For a number 2, that’s a neat trick, isn’t it?”
Behind the leading KTM duo there is a twenty minute gap. Lopez Contardo took third place in the overall standings after a superb fourth stage. Lopez Contardo started in 11th place today, but finished just 2 minutes behind Coma.
Olivier Pain continues to ride well at the Dakar, but the 12 minute penalty he suffered in stage 2 keeps him out o the top 10.
Overall Rankings
