Paulo Goncalves is fastest in the first half of the Dakar Rally’s marathon stage; Joan Barreda suffers a costly crash.
Team HRC Honda’s Paulo Gonçalves posted the fastest time in Stage 7, the first half of the two-part marathon stage in the Dakar Rally today, while his teammate Joan Barreda suffered a crash that cost him half of his time advantage to rival and fellow Spaniard Marc Coma.
Today’s marathon stage began in the Chilean city of Iquique and finished in the Bolivian city of Uyuni. The winner of the stage has yet to be determined after the second half of the marathon stage is run tomorrow. Today’s first half finishers were required to keep their motorcycles in the parc fermé where the repairs can only be made by the riders themselves.
Barreda had more work to do than some of the other frontrunners, as a crash just 200 kilometers into special stage left his factory Honda CRF450 Rally with a broken handlebar. Barreda gutted it out for the rest of the 120 kilometers in the first half of the stage by riding one-handed, and he arrived at the parc fermé with the 12th fastest time, but the mishap caused him to lose over 6 minutes of his overall time advantage to Coma, who finished just 14 seconds behind Goncalves today.
“You’ve got to stay superfocused in stages like this one, but even so… The road book contained a danger warning, without specifying whether it was level 1, 2 or 3,” Barreda said. “I saw it from quite far away and I started braking 100 meters before it, but the mud caused the motorcycle to slide and I hit the obstacle. I was sent flying. It happened at kilometer 200. I rode 120 kilometers with just one hand. My motorcycle also stopped at another time, and I lost a further four minutes. After that I pulled out all the stops… With one hand… But it’s no big deal. Now I’m off to have a shower and grab a bite, and then I’ll start repairing.”
Goncalves was extremely strong from the start of the marathon stage, and his performance today very much keeps him in overall contention for the rally win, although he may need some more help in the form of trouble to Barreda and Coma, as the Portuguese rider has been unable to match their speed with any consistency.
“It was a very hard stage,” Goncalves said. “I caught the riders in front of me and stayed with them because they were setting a strong pace. It started raining halfway through the stage, and it got very slippery and dangerous. With about 50 kilometers to go, I got a horrible headache, but I got here with the motorcycle safe and sound. Now it’s time to rest and, at any rate, get to work a bit, as there’s mud all over the motorcycle.
“It’s been a great first week,” Goncalves added. “I’ve made very few mistakes apart from Stage 3. I try to finish without too much trouble every day and, if I can keep it up, I could reap good results. It’s still open.”
Austrian Red Bull KTM team rider Matthias Walkner had a much better day in the first half of the marathon stage, arriving third, just half a minute behind Goncalves and ahead of fellow KTM riders Pablo Quintanilla of Chile and Toby Price of Australia.
2015 Dakar Rally
Stage 7 (Marathon Stage, Part 1)
Iquique, Chile-Uyuni, Bolivia
Results: January 11, 2015
1. Paulo Gonçalves (PRT)-Hon/3 hours, 56 minutes, 00 seconds
2. Marc Coma (ESP)-KTM/+03:56:14
3. Matthias Walkner (AUT)-KTM/+03:56:30
4. Pablo Quintanilla (CHL)-KTM/+03:57:32
5. Toby Price (AUS)-KTM/+03:57:49
6. Juan Pedrero (ESP)-Yam/+03:59:20
7. Alain Duclos (FRA)-She/+03:59:48
8. Helder Rodrigues (PRT)-Hon/+04:00:05
9. Stefan Svitko (SVK)-KTM/+04:01:09
10. Riaan Van Niekerk, (ZAF)-KTM 04:02:06
2015 Dakar Rally Standings (After 7 of 13 stages)
1. Joan Barreda (ESP)-Honda/25 hours, 40 minutes and 48 seconds
2. Marc Coma (ESP)-KTM/+00:06:28
3. Paulo Gonçalves (PRT)-Hon/+00:10:59
4. Pablo Quintanilla (CHL)-KTM/+00:25:16
5. Toby Price (AUS)-KTM/+00:29:20
6. Helder Rodrigues (PRT)-Honda/+00:33:56
7. Ruben Faria (PRT)-KTM/+00:40:23
8. Stefan Svitko (SVK)-KTM/+00:40:55
9. Alain Duclos (FRA)-She/+00:50:31
10. David Casteu (FRA)-KTM/+01:16:52
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