Dakar2012: Day 4 from Bikes in the Fast Lane

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Dakar2012: Day 4

January
2012

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

The Dakar

rally is now in full swing. All competitors are on their rhythm, but many are falling off, especially in the motorcycle field. Have the organizers made this year's edition too tough? 22 riders have withdrawn in 3 days!

It's amazing to watch the superpros battling it out, it makes the "normal" pros look ... normal. The fight between Cyril Despres

and Marc Coma

is intensifying, and even a really great enduro rider like Frans Verhoeven

just doesn't get close. The fight between the two arch rivals looks like it's going to be until the last round, they are so evenly matched.

Cyril Despres: "I have never ridden 122 kilometres down a riverbed before – that was a very hard – the concentration demanded by the navigation was almost as exhausting as the riding! Opening the piste this morning the plan was to take it easy and above all not to make any big mistakes. When you employ that tactic you accept to lose a little bit of time, so I can’t tell you how pleased I am to lose just 2 minutes! It could have been so much more. I made a small error with the road book right at the beginning, but instead of getting worked up, I stuck to my plan and minimised the damage. Then towards the end I was feeling good, and the bike was working well, so I decided to attack a little and got some of the time back I lost this morning back. A great day of rally-raid. Tomorrow we have another tough day to Fiambala and I will again need to stay very focused."

Marc Coma: “It was a very tough special, in particular at the beginning with the fast start. Then we had to focus on the navigation and tackle a lot of water in the rivers. I tried to ride at a very fast pace from the beginning, but it was difficult. I was able to overtake a few riders and make up some time on Cyril. Fiambala and many other stages still lie ahead. That is the way things are right now. And I keep on fighting every day."

Here are the photos of Day 4, courtesy KTM

and Maragni M.

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