Dakar2012: Day 12 from Bikes in the Fast Lane

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Dakar2012: Day 12

January
2012

  File under Dakar Race
  Author: Mike Werner
  Location: Normandy, France

Almost there, and all the cards have been played. The top 2 motorcycle riders, Marc Coma

and Cyril Despres

, both on KTM

motorcycles are still very close, with Coma re-taking the lead, but this time, Despres will not start immediately behind Coma, so the chances that he will overtake areslim. The top 3 for Day 12 were all Spanish.

The terrible dunes were reasonably easy, compared to the picture drawn by the organizers. More media attention is currently given to the fight between Robby Gordon vs The Rest of the World.

Marc Coma: "I set off four minutes after Cyril and I managed to catch up with him. For the entire first part of the special I mainly focused on navigation, because there was absolutely no room for mistakes. After that, I knew that there would be good opportunities to attack in the second part and that's where I managed to regain ground on Cyril. It's no way near over, because there's another big stage tomorrow."

Cyril Despres: "It was one of the finest specials that I've ridden on the Dakar over the last few years. In sporting terms, I expected that Marc was going to catch up with me and that it wouldn't be a good day. But it was majestic. I don't have any regrets, because I attacked throughout the first part. You have to go for broke on this Dakar; it's not a race where you can play the waiting game. Against Marc Coma, I'm doing battle with an excellent rider. He's quick and clever. So, I try and find the right pace. Apparently, there are riders in between us, so that's good news for the start tomorrow."

Here are the photos of yesterday. courtesy KTM

and Maragni M.

. Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them after they have all fully loaded