A time penalty erases Marc Coma’s stage win; Cyril Despres nets another stage victory in Stage 11.
Red Bull KTM rider Marc Coma of Spain continues to hold the overall lead in the 2014 Dakar Rally, but what seemed like a sure win in Stage 11 today was taken away after rally organizers assessed Coma with a 15-minute time penalty, handing the stage win to Team Yamaha’s Cyril Despres.
Coma already had a tense moment when he crashed early in the 605-kilometer stage, though he was none the worse for wear. He remounted and followed Despres to complete his run with a time of 6 hours 36 minutes and 8 seconds, but then came the penalty for making an engine change in the bivouac, leaving him with a 10th-best time of 6:51:08.
“It was a very long day,” Coma said. “I had a little fall at the start, but it wasn’t serious. After that, I tried to maintain a good pace. The important thing is still being here in the race and also to be careful, because there is still one tough day left.”
Despres recorded a time of 6:38:59, and he remains sixth overall, more than 2 hours behind Coma but still threatening for a podium finish by rally’s end. He now trails fifth-placed HRc Honda rider Helder Rodrigues by a mere 43 seconds.
“Well it was just a long day, a really long day,” Despres said. “We came across every type of terrain: Sand dunes, twisty, rocky track sections… It isn’t possible to do it without a good physical condition and the Yamaha today worked really perfectly, but also to manage to make a good special like this you need good tires. I’m just surprised at how we can get to the finish with just this kind of tire. It’s just impossible to understand.”
Despres’ factory Yamaha teammate, Olivier Pain, continued to fare well in his bid to steal away third overall from KTM’s Jordi Viladoms. After the time penalty to Coma rearranged the standings, Pain was awarded second place with a time of 6:41:36.
“The main thing today was to not lose too much time to Cyril or Helder, who are my main rivals,” Pain said. “I also wanted to gain as much as possible on Jordi, to try and aim for third place. A lot can still happen tomorrow. With a fairly small difference in time, you can end up on the podium… or in seventh place, and I don’t want to finish in seventh place!”
Coma’s main rival and fellow Spaniard, Joan Barreda also suffered a crash at the 250 kilometer mark, and Barreda’s was far more costly, as it wiped out all of the navigation gear on his HRC Honda CRF450 Rally and forced him to navigate the rest of the stage by dead reckoning. Barreda still managed to finish fourth, with a time of 6:44:20, and Coma’s penalty turned an 8 minute, and 12-second loss into a 6-minute 47-second gain in the overall standings.
“I started in first position opening the track and also pushing hard,” Barreda said. “Around 300 kilometers I had a crash in the fesh-fesh, and I hit a stone. It broke my navigation system so I had to wait for Cyril [Despres] for 5 or 6 minutes. then I came all the way together with him. So, good – it’s another day more finished. I think today was the longest stage, so it’s really good and I am really happy.”
Even so, Coma still holds a commanding overall lead, with just over 36 and a half minutes of cushion to Barreda with two stages left to be run.
While tomorrow’s penultimate stage from El Salvador to La Serena measure 699 kilometers, the special test will be a much shorter 350 kilometers. Sand will play a part of the
route again, with a big string of dunes to be negotiated near the end of the special test. The possibility still exists for changes in the overall standings.
2014 Dakar Rally
Stage 11
Antofagasta-El Salvador, Chile
Results: January 16, 2014
1. Cyril Despres-Yam/06:38:59
2. Olivier Pain-Yam/+00:02:37
3. Jordi Viladoms-KTM/+00:03:02
4. Joan Barreda-Hon/+00:05:21
5. Helder Rodrigues-Hon/+00:06:32
6. Juan Pedrero-She/+00:06:59
7. Stefan Svitko-KTM/+00:10:34
8. Kuba Pryzgonski-KTM/+00:11:49
9. Ivan Jakes-KTM/+00:11:56
10. Marc Coma-KTM/+00:12:09
Dakar Rally Standings (After 11 of 13 stages)
1. Marc Coma-KTM/48:39:41
2. Joan Barreda-Hon/+00:37:36
3. Jordi Viladoms-KTM/+01:52:56
4. Olivier Pain-Yam/+02:06:40
5. Helder Rodrigues-Hon/+02:15:35
6. Cyril Despres-Yam/+02:16:18
7. Kuba Pryzgonski-KTM/+02:28:55
8. Daniel Gouet-Hon/+03:09:35
9. Stefan Svitko-KTM/+3:31:32
10. David Casteu-KTM/+03:52:56
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