Rallye

Marc Coma New Dakar Leader After Claiming His First Stage Win

Three Remaining Aussies All Complete Stage Five

Author: Aaryn Minerds

Posted:

Friday, January 10th, 2014

10:09 AM

Marc Coma New Dakar Leader After Claiming His First Stage Win

Red Bull KTM factory rider and three-times Dakar winner Marc Coma rose to the occasion on Thursday during yet another very difficult day to claim his first stage victory in the 2014 Dakar Rally.

Coma led a KTM stage sweep on the day five leg from Chilecito to Tucuman, leading home teammate Jordi Viladoms and KTM supported rider Kuba Przygonski.

Coma, who moved into second behind the leader Honda's Joan Barreda on Wednesday by just three minutes has now taken control of the overall lead after winning the stage more than 12 minutes in front of Viladoms. He now leads the overall standings by 41 minutes and 10 seconds from Barreda after the rider who lead the way for the first four days ran into some troubles in stage five.

‰ÛÏI opened ninety percent of the stage today. Everything was running well but it was soft sand and very technical and when you‰Ûªre on the camel grass it is tough." Coma said.

"At the end of the last part it was very difficult to find the finish line. I got to another river and had to cut back to find the correct one. But in the end it was good," he added.

Joan Barreda only lost one position overall moving back to second place, though lost well over forty minutes - Credit: Honda Racing

Barreda was the sixth rider to leave the start line on day five but was able to quickly catch the lead bunch of riders. However a wrong turn combined with some fuel issues caused the race leader to over 44 minutes on the day and finishing the stage in 17th position and in turn dropping him to second place in the standings.

"It‰Ûªs been a really hard day, one of the most difficult, with very high temperatures and soft sand." Barreda explained at the end of the day. "Every day it just gets tougher.

"I had an issue with the fuel at the start of the special, but after I was able to get back into it. I caught up with Marc Coma and the fuel problems came back when I was looking for a waypoint.

"I lost a lot of time trying to repair it. The most important thing is that we finished, we are still in the race. Let‰Ûªs see how the next few days play out," he concluded.

Chaleco LÌ_pez maintained his third position in the in the standings after five stages, though like Barreda, lost well over forty minutes on the day's stage, dropping to 53 minutes behind the race leader after starting the day only 5 minutes off the lead.

LÌ_pez was one of the riders in the Barreda group, that also included Cyril Despres who took a wrong time. Though disappointed in losing so much time he was happy to make it to the finish and will re set ready for another big day tomorrow.

‰ÛÏIt was very difficult and the first part was very sandy." Lopez commented. "It wasn‰Ûªt a good day for me but it was important to have reached the finish. It‰Ûªs a long, long race and tomorrow is a new day.‰Û

Francisco Lopez maintains 3rd position though went from 5 minutes behind the leader to over 50 on day fiveCredit: M.Maragni (KTM Images)

For the three remaining Australian's it was another long day on the bike. Yamaha rider Shane Diener was the first of the trio to finish the day's stage 1 hour and 33 minutes behind Coma.

However Diener recived a one hour time penalty on the stage, leaving Troy O'Connor as the best ranked Aussie for the stage in 40th position, just under 2 hours behind the stage winner. The third Autralian remaining in the race Allan Roberts crossed the line just over 2 hours after Coma, but like Diener also recived a 1 hour time penalty for the stage.

Overall KTM mounted O'Connor is the leading Australian in 42 position after five stages 7 hours behind the race leader. Fellow KTM rider Roberts is a further 1 hour and 21 minutes further back in 53rd position, while Diener moved up nine positions overnight to 64th.

At this point in time only 79 of the 115 riders who started stage five have completed the stage. I total of 196 motorcycles began the race just five days ago.

Stage Six takes the field from Tucuman to Salta with a short 64 km liaison and another heavy 400 km of timed special. Riders then take the one rest day on Saturday ahead of the second marathon stage on Sunday and Monday.

Australian Shane Diener is one of three Aussie that will start stage 6 in what is proving to be one of the toughest Dakar events in many years - Credit Linden Forbes

Provisional Stage 5 Results - San Rafael to San Juan:
1. Marc Coma (ESP, KTM) 03:02:08 hrs
2. Jordi Viladoms (ESP, KTM) +00:12:54
3. Jakub Przygonski (POL, KTM) +00:22:45
4. Helder Rodrigues (PRT, Honda) +00:25:53
5. Riaan van Niekerk (ZAF, KTM) +00:32:04
6. Juan Carlos Salvatierra (BOL, Speedbrain) +00:33:12
7. Juan Pedrero Garcia (ESP, Sherco) +00:34:03
8. Stefan Svitko (SVK, KTM) +00:36:38
9. Robert van Pelt (NLD, Honda) +00:37:04
10. Daniel Gouet (CHL, Honda) +00:37:53
40. Troy O'Connor (Aus, KTM) +01:52:20
50. Shane Diener (Aus, Yamaha) +02:33:18
66. Allan Roberts (Aus, KTM) +03:06:53

Provisional Overall Standings after Stage 5:
1. Marc Coma (ESP, KTM) 18:45:11 hrs
2. Joan Barreda (ESP, Honda) +00:41:10
3. Francisco Lopez (CHL, KTM) +00:53:41
4. Jordi Viladoms (ESP, KTM) +00:58:58
5. Alain Duclos (FRA, Sherco) +01:02:13
6. Olivier Pain (FRA, Yamaha) +00:29:38
7. Jakub Przygonski (POL, KTM) +01:14:27
8. Cyril Despres (FRA, Yamaha) +01:23:01
9. Jeremias Israel Esquerre (CHL, Speedbrain) +01:23:30
10. Stefan Svitko (SVK, KTM) +01:30:13
42. Troy O'Connor (Aus, KTM) +07:01:29
53. Allan Roberts (Aus, KTM) +08:22:03
64. Shane Diener (Aus, Yamaha) +10:53:59

Top Image: After a steady first four days, KTM's Marc Coma made his move to the lead on day five opening up a big gap on the field

Credit: M.Maragni (KTM Images)