Francisco Lopez started his bid for the 2012 Dakar championship with a fantastic first day from Mar Del Plata to Rose De La Pampa. The Chilean rider finished ahead of last year's winner, Marco Coma, and Argentina's Javier Pizzolito.
Lopez, who was questionable for the Dakar after a heavy crash last spring at the Rally of Tunisia, moved slowly through the first section of the stage. But as the road opened up Lopez was able to twist his way through the dunes to top Coma's time from earlier in the day.
"I did not get off to a very fast start this morning, since the first part of the special stage was quite tough, with all the dunes and all those spectators. Moreover, the first special of the Dakar is always more challenging, since you need to find your focus on the race, and the new GPS is somewhat smaller, so I really was very careful. Fortunately, the special's last 20 kilometres were very fast and I was able to drive much more aggressively."
Coma, who won this section of the stage in 2009, completed the stage in 32 minutes and 51 seconds, 14 seconds behind the Aprilia leader.
"The first special was breathtaking: next to the seaside and with beautiful little dunes," Coma said. "It really was a fantastic warm-up. But we still have a long day ahead of us, with a lengthy liaison."
Behind Coma came Javier Pizzolito, who posted the strongest performance every by an Argentinean rider at the Dakar. Pizzolito, who finished 19th at last year's Dakar, finished 27 seconds behind the leader.
Argentinian Javier Pizzolito and American Quin Cody completed the top five.
Cyril Despres, who won the Dakar in 2010, finished the stage a minute and 48 seconds behind Lopez.
"I am happy to start, to ride my motorcycle, to see my roadbook and notes again," Despres said. "I just need to get used to it again... I took this special quite cautiously because there were a lot of potholes, fesh-fesh, dust... and spectators, so I kept it cool at the beginning."
Here's a video summary of the first stage.
