With just three stages remaining in the 2012 Dakar Rally every second is starting to count. Cyril Despres took his fourth stage win of the year today and was able to gain two minutes on his rival Marc Coma.
Coma has been riding all out for the last few days and could be hard to catch over the next few days. But Coma's team has set up an attack that could see a shift on the leader board tomorrow afternoon.
Coma finished in third place today behind Gerard Farres Guell. Coma is hoping that Guell will be able to lead the way during the majority of tomorrow's stage before attacking at the front.
"It was a tough day, all in all," Despres said. "An important development might be if someone moves in between Marc and me. In any case, apart from attacking and riding, there wasn't much to do today. Mind you, if Farres has actually finished 2nd, it's not good for me. Tomorrow will be complicated, but anything can happen on the Dakar."
But with Despres riding the way he is, any amount of strategy may not work to reel him in.
"I'm going to try my utmost right until the end," Coma said. "There are three days left to give it everything. It's difficult to define a strategy when Cyril is riding flat out in front! I'll just have to follow him. It won't be flat out, but the pace will again be quick, like it has been since the beginning of the race."
