Cyril Despres Wins 2014 Dakar Rally Stage 12

The defending Dakar Champion Cyril Despres has had a strong second half of the rally, but Marc Coma is poised victory after Joan Barreda has suffers a nightmare Stage 12.

Team Yamaha’s Cyril Despres stormed the final dune section in the 2014 Dakar Rally and came away with another stage win in Stage 12 from El Salvador to La Serena, Chile, today.

It was Despres’ third stage win of the Rally after Red Bull KTM’s Mark Coma crossed the finish line into El Salvador with the fastest time yesterday but was dropped from first to 10th in the Stage 11 standings after changing an engine, and Despres was then listed at the top of the Stage 11 results. Today’s win makes Despres the first back-to-back stage motorcycle stage winner in the 2014 Dakar Rally.

Although Despres still started second, behind Coma, in Stage 12 he quickly caught and passed the overall Rally leader in the early going, and the two again rode together through the Copiapo dune sections. There were tense moments for both men late in the stage when, with the finish line near, they missed a waypoint, which would have meant a one-hour time penalty for each. But the error was caught with enough time for them to back-track and clock the waypoint before heading to the finish. Despres recorded a time of 3 hours, 58 minutes and 18 seconds, 2 minutes and 17 seconds ahead of Coma.

“It was a nice stage,” Despres said. “Quite fast at the beginning, a lot of rocks also and then not that easy navigation on the last part. I’m pretty happy to navigate and I really enjoyed the day a lot, which is really important.”

But after today, the 2014 Dakar Rally win is practically in Coma’s pocket, as he put together another consistent ride while fellow Spaniard and primary challenger Joan Barreda suffered a nightmare stage on the HRC Honda and 68th today – a whopping 2 hours, 29 minutes and 35 seconds behind Despres. Barreda was plagued by electrical problems and then by a broken steering head. The net result not only eliminated any outside for a Rally victory, but it dropped him all the way down to seventh in the overall standings. Thus, Coma’s overall lead went from 37 and a half minutes over Barreda to now just under 2 hours over his teammate and rally support rider, Jordi Viladoms. It will take an act of God for Coma not to claim his fourth career Dakar Rally Championship at the close of the day in Valparaiso tomorrow, not that he is taking anything for granted.

“Today was a very long stage, 350 kilometers,” Coma said. “We finished in the Copiapo dunes. This means it is always tough, difficult and not easy for navigating. From the past we know that normally this stage is decisive. So now I’m here, I’m happy of course. We stayed together with Cyril all day and we arrived at the end without any big problems. Of course, there are always some small mistakes and we had to find the way point. For tomorrow, there is still 150 kilometers, and this is a lot. It’s like I’m fighting for myself to be focused, to push every day and just follow the way that brings me here. So I’ll carry on like that.”

Team Yamaha’s Olivier Pain was also very consistent again today despite crashing twice. Pain finished third in Stage 12 with a time of 4:04:11, ahead of HRC Honda’s Helder Rodrigues, with a 4:05:39, and Viladoms with a 4:07:28. Pain remains third in the overall standings, ahead of Despres, who moved up to fourth overall by virtue of today’s stage win.

“Fifteen kilometers from the finishing line, I was surprised by a bumpy part on a descent,” Pain said of his ride today. “In a bend, I can’t have had perfect balance and I was thrown off the bike. I bent my handlebars, and it made riding a bit complicated afterwards, which led to me falling again. I’ve hurt my inner thigh a little, but all in all, I’m still here and I haven’t lost too much time to Cyril. It was a little mistake which won’t have any consequences for the rest of the rally I hope. I didn’t want to give anything away. It’s a pity to be caught out by a moment’s carelessness. The race can change quickly!”
Tomorrow’s run to Valparaiso is not expected to upset the final standings much, although it remains to be seen if Despres can or will pass Pain for third overall. The final finish line is in sight!

2014 Dakar Rally
Stage 12
El Salvador-La Serena, Chile
Results: January 17, 2014
1. Cyril Despres-Yam/03:58:18
2. Marc Coma-KTM/+00:02:17
3. Olivier Pain-Yam/+00:05:53
4. Helder Rodrigues-Hon/+00:07:21
5. Jordi Viladoms-KTM/+00:09:10
6. Daniel Gouet-Hon/+00:09:52
7. Kuba Pryzgonski-KTM/+00:10:45
8. David Casteu-KTM/+00:11:03
9. Ivan Jakes-KTM/+00:12:04
10. Javier Pizzolito-Hon/+00:12:49

Dakar Rally Standings (After 12 of 13 stages)
1. Marc Coma-KTM/52:40:16
2. Jordi Viladoms-KTM/+01:59:49
3. Olivier Pain-Yam/+02:10:16
4. Cyril Despres-Yam/+02:14:01
5. Helder Rodrigues-Hon/+02:20:39
6. Kuba Pryzgonski-KTM/+02:37:23
7. Joan Barreda-Hon/+03:04:54
8. Daniel Gouet-Hon/+03:17:10
9. Stefan Svitko-KTM/+03:52:45
10. David Casteu-KTM/+04:01:42