You can never count Marc Coma out of the Dakar Rally, and today in Chile he showed why.
Reigning Dakar Rally Champion and Red Bull KTM rider Marc Coma practiced his racecraft to perfection during Stage 5 of 2015 Dakar Rally today, recording his first stage win of the event.
After finishing second in the two previous stages, the in the last two stages, Coma stepped up his game over the route from from Copiapó to Antofagasta in Chile today, and he pulled back 2 minutes and 16 seconds from rival and fellow Spaniard Joan Barreda in the overall standings after completing the 458-kilometer special stage.
Coma can practically be counted upon to make things happen in crucial moments and today’s stage was expected to be a crucial one, with the riders challenging the Atacama Desert on the route from Copiapó to Antofagasta Chile. Today’s route included a 174-kilometer transfer stage, followed by a 458-kilometer special stage and then a short, 65-kilometer transfer stage to the finish There are 131 motorcycle competitors still in competition. Yesterday’s Stage 4 was particularly tough on the bike class, as eight riders riders dropped out of the rally.
Barreda’s Stage 4 win turned him from hunter into hunted today, as he began the timed special two minutes ahead of the wily Coma, who was feeling the pressure to make up time on his Spanish rival. The race was extremely tight through the early going of the special, as Barreda, Coma, Transportes Artista KTM’s Pablo Quintanilla of Chile, Team HRC Honda’s Paulo Goncalves and rejuvenated Red Bull KTM rider Matthias Walkner were all within close time proximity. Quintanilla briefly held the stage lead through Checkpoint 1, only to be outdone by Slovakian rider Stefan Svitko, who was enjoying his best day of the rally thus far.
Coma was fourth at Checkpoint 1, but he had already made up 2 minutes on Barreda and would gain another 30 seconds as he took over the stage lead at the midpoint between Checkpoints 1 and 2, and from there he maintained a steady pace all the way to the finish for the stage win.
“It was a very tough stage,” Coma said. “There was fesh-fesh all the time and in the fesh-fesh you cannot see the stones and it is not comfortable to ride. You are always having to pay attention. After 30 kilometers I was at the front and opening the stage again. I tried to lead at a good pace and not take to many risks, because today was very tricky. At the end, I’m happy how the day was. It’s going to be very difficult to take time from Joan, but, you know, we have a lot of racing in front of us. There’s the second part of the rally and we’ll have two marathon stages. We will try like hell until the last day. We know that Joan is very fast and that he has a very high level, but we will try, for sure.”
Barreda remained steady today, finishing second and continuing to show the maturity that could pay huge dividends in the latter portions of the rally. He still holds a 10-minute, 33-second advantage over Coma and the rest of the field.
Quintanilla continues to feel the stoke of competing in his home country as evidenced by his third-place finish today. The Chilean has been putting his local knowledge to good use, and there was a moment today when a stage win seemed possible. That didn’t happen, but Quintanilla continues his ascension in the standings, vaulting to more places to now run fourth overall, behind Team HRC Honda’s Paulo Goncalves, who finished fifth today.
“Well, today was a very tough stage and a long one,” Quintanilla said. “I felt very good, but in the last kilometers I got a bit tired. I’m happy to be in Antofagasta in front of our public and in our land, so I hope we have a good race.”
A noteworthy performance was also turned in by Svitko, who finished the day fourth and is now ninth overall.
There was trouble for Red Bull KTM competitors Ruben Faria and Jordi Viladoms only 34 kilometers after the start of the special stage, as both made navigational errors that put them on the wrong set of tracks. Both men soon realized their mistake and were able to steer in the right direction, but they lost valuable time in the process. Viladoms held on for 10th in the stage, while Faria finished outside the top 10 for the first time in the rally.
2015 Dakar Rally
Stage 5
Copiapó-Antofagasta, Chile
Results: January 8, 2015
1. Marc Coma (ESP)-KTM/4 hours, 38 minutes and 16 seconds
2. Joan Barreda (ESP)-Hon/+00:02:16
3. Pablo Quintanilla (CHL)-KTM/+00:02:40
4. Stefan Svitko (SVK)-KTM/+00:03:54
5. Paulo Goncalves (PRT)-Hon/+00:04:37
6. Helder Rodrigues (PRT)-Hon/+00:06:35
7. Jeremias Israel (CHL)-Hon/+00:07:10
8. Matthias Walkner (AUT)-KTM/+00:07:24
9. Alain Duclos (FRA)-She/+00:09:57
10. Jordi Viladoms (ESP)-KTM/+00:16:49
2015 Dakar Rally Standings (After 5 of 13 stages)
1. Joan Barreda (ESP)-Hon/17 hours, 51 minutes, 5 seconds
2. Marc Coma (ESP)-KTM/+00:10:33
3. Paulo Goncalves (PRT)-Hon/+00:22:50
4. Pablo Quintanilla (CHL)-KTM/+00:32:06
5. Jordi Viladoms (ESP)-KTM/+00:36:23
6. Ruben Faria (PRT)-KTM/+00:38:13
7. Matthias Walkner (AUT)-KTM/+00:38:36
8. Toby Price (AUS)-KTM/+00:39:54
9. Stefan Svitko (SVK)-KTM/+00:42:05
10. Helder Rodrigues (PRT)-Hon+/00:43:24
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