Dakar2012: Day 5 from Bikes in the Fast Lane

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Dakar2012: Day 5

January
2012

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

The terrible sand dunes of Fiambala are done, and this time the weather helped everyone a little hand. It had been raining for days before the day all motorcycle had to cross the frightening sand dunes, and now the sand was harder and firmer for motorcycles.

Chances were that you would not get as stuck as in previous editions of the race. Cyril Despres

took the most advantage of it, and beat his arch-rival, Marc Coma

, to the finish, increasing his lead. But the race is only over when the fat lady sings. Dutchman Frans Verhoeven

got problems and lost his 3rd place, replaced by Helder Rodrigues

.

Cyril Despres: “There was a good chance that I would catch Marc in the dunes, as the first bike leaves a track that is easy to follow. Given that, I thought he might not ride too fast and maybe try some tactical riding, like slowing the pace down. But when I finally caught up with him, and we started to ride together, there wasn’t much in the way of tactics, we just rode flat out all the way to the end!”

Marc Coma: “It was another hard and complicated stage: the mythical Fiambala stage. The special was a bit shorter than planned. In physical terms, that's good, but for me, the more distance there is, the more difficulties there are, the more likely something may happen and the more opportunities might come my way. I made a small mistake and I'm paying for it. But I'm still here and still aiming to win. With the Atacama, it's a new race that begins. We'll see what happens.”

Here are the photos of yesterday. courtesy KTM

and Maragni M.

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