Yesterday, Cyril Despres made a costly navigation mistake which allowed for Marc Coma to extend his lead to 18 minutes. Despres was able to take back a little bit of time today, but is still 15 minutes behind in the overall standings. Despres claimed his third stage victory of the year today, but may be too far behind to catch Coma in the final days of the 2011 Dakar Rally.
But Despres hasn't given up just yet. As we saw yesterday, a small mistake at the Dakar can lead to a massive time loss. Despres is definitely within striking distance, and will look to capitalize on any mistake Coma makes.
“To succeed, you have to try first, and I'm trying," said Despres. "I'm doing everything I can, everything I know. It has to be said it was a superb special. Even if the time wasn't great, it was a pleasure to ride. In 2007; I won two days before the finish, and if I don't have a hope, it's impossible to ride at speeds like that. I'm still hoping and carrying on attacking. With Marc, we both ride KTM bikes, which is an advantage. We're quite close, but for the moment, the fat lady hasn't sung yet. There are still two days left.”
Despres claimed his 26th stage win today during the 11th stage of the Dakar Rally. He is just 6 stages behind the record holder, Stephane Peterhansel.
Chaleco Lopez had another great today, and was almost able to claim the stage victory. But a navigation mistake late in the day gave that honor to Despres. Lopez is third in the general standings, 49 minutes behind Coma.
