Monster Energy Honda’s Joan Barreda came through for his third stage win during Stage 10 of the Dakar Rally on a day that saw several hopefuls fall by the wayside on the route between Chelicito and San Juan in Argentina.
With two stages canceled due to bad weather and a landslide, the 449-kilometer special that made up today’s stage became all the more critical and more challenging due to the return of hot weather. Tricky navigation also spelled doom for some of the bike competitors. Barreda proved to be the fastest man on the day, although it appeared at first as if his Monster Energy Honda teammate, Michael Metge, had picked up the stage victory. Barreda was awarded the win after rally officials found that Metge had missed a waypoint. Barreda’s winning time was 5 hours, 49 minutes and 45 seconds.
“Today has been a very good stage,” Barreda said. “In the first part, where I had to be very careful, something wasn’t right. Several riders got lost in an area with a ford where one of the notes indicated a dead-end. I was trying it out until Michael Metge showed up and confirmed the position. I did a little cross country before I found the right route. From there we pushed hard and the last part of the day featured a bumpy track in the style of American Bajas. It was great fun.”
Slovnaft Team KTM’s Stefan Svitko got back on track with a fine second-place finish, although early rally navigational errors have left the Slovenian barely inside the top 10 overall and more than 1 hour and 48 minutes off the lead pace.
Other top runners ad a tough day, most notably Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Pablo Quintanilla who got lost for more than one hour and then crashed heavily in the second part of the special, suffering a head injury that forced him to withdraw from the rally. Yamalube Yamaha’s Adrien Van Beveren and Viltais Racing Team HFP Yamaha’s Xavier de Soultrait both made a series of mistakes that cost them serious time. Van Beveren dropped to fourth place in the overall standings. Monster Energy Honda’s Ricky Brabec also saw his hopes for a good rally finish dissipate after he suffered radiator damage. The American had to be towed back to the bivouac, and he appears to be out of the rally.
That left the overall leader, Red Bull KTM’s Sam Sunderland, in good shape. Even though he failed to land inside the top 10 during the stage, the Brit finished the day with an even more secure lead than when he started it after Quintanilla was forced out of the rally. Sunderland now leads teammate Matthias Walkner, who finished 10th in today’s stage, by 30 minutes and 1 second.
“It’s good to be here to be honest,” Sunderland said. “It was a bit of a crazy day and a long one. There was really tricky navigation this morning. When you have the lead, it’s hard to stay focused. When things start to go wrong you start to have a big stress and to stay calm in those situations is really difficult. I think it was a difficult stage for everybody. Before the refuel I made some navigation mistakes and I was really thinking, ‘ah, this is it, I’ve messed up here.’ I tried to keep calm and keep pushing. I arrived at the refuelling point, and there were only two guys there, so I knew that I hadn’t lost too much time. After that, I was a bit more calm. When I arrived at refuelling and I saw the guys and they said Quintanilla unfortunately had some problems, I knew I had some time in hand. In the last three hundred kilometers here in the heat I really took it easy, didn’t take any risks and just focused a lot to make sure I was on the good routes in the rivers.”
Tomorrow’s stage runs from San Juan to Rio Cuarto, a total distance of 754 kilometers with 288 kilometers of timed special. Competitors will face the San Juan dunes, which will come in the first 50 kilometers of the special stage will mark the last of the sand dunes to be traversed in the 2017 Dakar Rally.
2017 Dakar Rally
Chilecito, Argentina, to San Juan, Argentina
Results: January 12, 2016 (Stage 10 of 12)
Stage 10
1. Joan Barreda (ESP)-Monster Energy Honda/5 hours, 49 minutes, 45 seconds
2. Stefan Svitko (SLO)-Slovnaft Team KTM/+00:00:24
3. Franco Caimi (ARG)-Honda South America/+00:03:48
4. Pela Renet (FRA)-Rockstar Energy Husqvarna/+00:04:21
5. Helder Rodrigues (POR)-Yamalube Yamaha/+00:05:46
6. Ivan Cervantes (ESP)-Himoinsa Team KTM/+00:07:15
7. Adrien Metge (FRA)-Sherco TVS Rally Factory/+00:08:18
8. Paulo Goncalves (POR)-Monster Energy Honda/+00:08:43
9. Ondrej Klymciw (CZE)-Klymciw Racing Husqvarna/+00:09:22
10. Matthias Walkner (AUT)-Red Bull KTM/+00:12:53
2017 Dakar Rally Overall Standings (after 10 of 12 stages)
1. Sam Sunderland (GBR)-Red Bull KTM/28 hours, 7 minutes and 59 seconds
2. Matthias Walkner (AUT)-Red Bull KTM/+00:30:01
3. Gerard Farres (ESP)-Himoinsa Team KTM/+00:38:43
4. Adrien Van Beveren (FRA)-Yamalube Yamaha/+00:41:57
5. Joan Barreda (ESP)-Monster Energy Honda/+00:53:47
6. Pela Renet (FRA)-Rockstar Energy Husqvarna/+00:55:24
7. Paulo Goncalves (POR)-Monster Energy Honda/+01:00:11
8. Xavier De Soultrait (FRA)-Viltais Racing Team HFP Yamaha/+01:32:55
9. Franco Caimi (ARG)-Honda South America/+01:37:57
10. Stefan Svitko (SLO)-Slovnaft Team KTM/+01:48:45
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