As we near the halfway mark of the 2012 Dakar Rally, three time champion Cyril Despres has established himself as the front runner. Despres took his 28th stage victory today, his second of 2012, and now holds a 10 minute lead over his rival Marc Coma.
Despres may have been able to gain a little more time on his rival but Dakar organizers shortened the special today due to bad weather. Still, Despres was able to gain 1'41 on Coma and currently leads the Dakar by 9'50".
The 2012 Dakar Rally is starting to turn into a two man fight between Coma and Despres. After Coma, Despres' nearest competitor, Helder Rodrigues, is more than 45 minutes behind.
"After the first day, you could have said that lots of other riders were going to be involved in the fight, but in the end, there aren't too many," Despres said. "The gaps aren't very big at the moment and we're playing with gaps of two minutes. Today was easier for me, because I set off behind him. Perhaps tomorrow, it will be the opposite. I've got a lead over him and it's a fairly comfortable cushion. Mind you, it can disappear quickly, so I need to keep the same state of mind and the same amount of concentration."
Coma knows that the race isn't over yet, but Despres will be hard to catch unless he makes a mistake.
"It was another hard and complicated stage: the mythical Fiambala stage," Coma said. "The special was a bit shorter than planned. In physical terms, that's good, but for me, the more distance there is, the more difficulties there are, the more likely something may happen and the more opportunities might come my way. I made a small mistake and I'm paying for it. But I'm still here and still aiming to win. With the Atacama, it's a new race that begins. We'll see what happens."
Here's a video summary of stage 5.
Watch the Dakar Rally Stage 4 Summary.
Watch the Dakar Rally Stage 3 Summary.
