Coma and Roma reign in Dakar
ANTOFOGASTA: Spain’s defending Dakar motorcycling champion, Marc Coma, regained the overall lead in his thrilling duel with France’s three-time winner Cyril Despres yesterday after winning the eighth stage.
Coma’s compatriot Nani Roma completed a great day for Spain by winning his second stage of the race in the car section in his Mini, though French Dakar legend Stephane Peterhansel retained the overall lead.
Coma had been over seven minutes behind Despres going into the 477km stage from Copiapo but the Spaniard benefited from his fellow KTM rider having problems early on when he got stuck in a boggy patch which had not been highlighted in the racebook.
Despres eventually came in 17min 20sec behind Coma but race stewards took into account his time spent in the bog and amended his time to 9min 14sec. He now trails Coma by 1min 26sec in the overall standings.
Coma’s fourth stage win – his 20th overall – of the rally saw him finish in a time of 5hr 3min and 52sec, seven minutes faster than his teammate, Portuguese rider Ruben Faria, while the latter’s compatriot, Yamaha rider Helder Rodrigues, was 7min 10sec adrift in third.
Peterhansel – a six-time Dakar motorcycling champion and three-time car winner – came in fourth 5min 38sec slower while defending champion Nasser Al-attiyah of Qatar was fifth in his Hummer but lost more time on the overall leader as he was 8min 9sec adrift.
Gordon slashed three minutes off 46-year-old Peterhansel’s overall lead and trails him by 7min 36sec.
Indeed, Peterhansel cursed himself after the special and said he feared Gordon could deprive him of an historic 10th win.
Al Attiyah has been plagued by problems from the off – he had more yesterday – but he refused to give up hope of making a significant mark.