With another key stage victory in the Chilean dunes today, the Red Bull KTM rider from Spain appears to be tightening his grip on a fourth career Dakar Rally championship.
Spaniard Marc Coma showed once again why he is a true technician when it comes to the Dakar Rally, as he rode his Red Bull KTM to another key victory in the first Chilean coastal stage of the 2014 Dakar Rally, which included a 422-kilometer special test between Calama and Iquique.
Stage 9 expected to be an important stage for the motorcycles, as time lost in the dunes had the potential to cause massive swings in the standings. That would turn out to be true for some Dakar Rally podium hopefuls, but Coma was machine-like in his precision today. Starting third, he soon caught up with HRC Honda’s Joan Barreda and Team Yamaha’s Cyril Despres, and the three rode the stage together, effectively allowing Coma to remain in clear command.
“It was a complicated stage in the Atacama Desert,” Coma said. “Very nice and very fast at the beginning, but on the last part we found some dunes. I tried to catch Joan, because he started two minutes in front of me. When I caught up with him I tried to follow to ride together to the end. It was a good day for me.”
Coma completed the Stage 9 of the rally in 4 hours, 49 minutes and 5 seconds, re-establishing his 40+-minute advantage over Barreda, who was the first rider to reach the finish line but finished second in the stage today, posting a time of 4:50:46.
“It was a very complicated stage,” Barreda said. “I started very quickly, but Marc (Coma) accelerated and caught up with me in the dunes at the end of the stage. I’m happy, because I did the best I can, I really did. There are two very hard days left. I’m going to carry on at the same pace. Tomorrow I’ll be opening the way, but I’m happy with the work that I’m doing.”
Despres appears to have established a solid rhythm and is clocking the kind of performances that rally fans might have expected from the defending motorcycle champion. Although he is still well behind the lead pace, it is entirely possible that he could vault all the way to fourth place before the end of the rally even if the front runners do not have any trouble. Despres finished third again today, posting a time of 4:54:33 on his factory Yamaha, which appears to be through the teething stage as the rally heads toward its conclusion, with just four stages yet to be run. Today’s stage finish moved him from ninth to eighth in the overall standings.
The day was another heartbreaker for Despres’ countryman Alain Duclos, whose Samsung Sherco suffered valve trouble and forced him to be towed to the bivouac by teammate Francisco Errazuriz. Just like that, Duclos’ problems dropped him from podium contention to outside the top 10 in the overall standings. It also helped Coma teammate Jordi Viladoms, who finished sixth in Stage 9 today, as his hold on third place overall is more secure, as Viladoms now has a 28-minute and 21-second advantage over Chilean rider Jeremias Israel.
Also noteworthy in today’s results was the performance of HRc Honda-supported female rider Laia Sanz, who broke into the top-10 for the first time in Stage 9, with a ninth-place finish. Sanz is 16th overall, 5 hours, 9 minutes and 3 seconds behind Coma.
Stage 10 from Iquique to Antofagasta will feature 58 kilometers in transfer sections and a massive 631-kilometer special test that will be broken into two sections. It will begin with the descent toward the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Riders will have to concentrate to tackle the sections of fesh-fesh—fine sand that looks like solid ground but behaves like soft mud—in the second part of the stage. Once this difficult area is behind the competitors, they will twist and wind along the region’s mine tracks before reaching the arch of La Portuda, a stone’s throw from the bivouac in Antofagasta.
2014 Dakar Rally
Stage 9
Calama-Iquique, Chile
Results: January 14, 2014
1. Marc Coma-KTM/04:49:o5
2. Joan Barreda-Hon/+00:01:41
3. Cyril Despres-Yam/+00:05:28
4. Juan Pedrero-She/+00:08:43
5. Stefan Svito-KTM/+00:09:42
6. Jordi Viladoms-KTM/+00:11:23
7. Helder Rodrigues-Hon/+00:11:44
8. Ivan Jakes-KTM/+00:13:40
9. Laia Sanz-Hon/+00:14:34
10. Jeremias Israel-Spe/+00:15:01
Dakar Rally Standings (After 9 of 13 stages)
1. Marc Coma-KTM/36:55:24
2. Joan Barreda-Hon/+00:40:19
3. Jordi Viladoms-KTM/+01:38:45
4. Jermias Israel-Spe/+02:07:06
5. Olivier Pain-Yam/+02:16:10
6. Helder Rodrigues-Hon/+02:24:25
7. Kuba Pryzgonski-KTM/+02:25:16
8. Cyril Despres-Yam/+02:29:56
9. Daniel Gouet-Hon/+02:57:42
10. Stefan Svitko-KTM/+03:29:02
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