Marc Coma was able to hold off Cyril Despres today as the Dakar Rally made its way through Chile from Antofagasta to Copiapo. Coma claimed his third stage victory of the 2011 Dakar Rally, adding two minutes to his lead over Despres.
Coma, Despres, and yesterday's stage winner Francisco "Chaleco" Lopez Contardo, rode closely together throughout the trip to Copiapo. Navigation duties fell heavily on Despres' shoulders, as Coma opted to play it safe by following Despres throughout the 8th stage.
"The problem with navigation is like in cycling some riders stick to your back wheel like leeches," Despres said. "Well, there's the same thing in rally raids too. But that's just part of the game.”
Coma now has a 9 minute and 55 seconds over Despres and will work to protect his lead over the remaining stages. Despres will need to find a way to break from his KTM rival as the Dakar riders leave Chile tomorrow.
Chaleco Lopez finished third for the day and maintains his third place standing on the overall time sheet. Chaleco is trailed by Helder Rodriguez, who finished fourth during today's stage and Ruben Faria, who finished 6th today.
Pal-Anders Ullevalseter is finally getting a hang of the new KTM 450 as he finished in fifth place today. Ullevalseter has had a rough Dakar Rally, but his fifth place finish moves him up into 6th in the overall standings.
