Dakar Rally – stage 11

Despite a fall at the beginning of the stage, Marc Coma again demonstrated his status as boss of Dakar 2014, picking up his 3rd victory of the year on one of the longest specials of this 36th edition. Coma further reinforced his position at the top of the general standings.

605km against the clock were on the menu for the competitors on the 11th stage of the Dakar 2014, which witnessed an impressive performance from Marc Coma. Fifth to start in the morning, the leader of the general standings fell during the first hour of the stage. He then attacked throughout the first part before finally tackling the dunes in the wake of Cyril Despres, who moved to opening the way from the very first minutes of the special stage.

The two men finished the rest of the stage together and therefore it was only logical that the Catalan recorded the best time of the day, 2’51 ahead of Cyril Despres. Behind this duo, the third best time of the day went to Olivier Pain, involved in a feisty battle for the final step on the podium with Jordi Viladoms, who in the end only lost around thirty seconds to the French Yamaha rider.

As a result, in the general standings, Marc Coma increases his lead to 52’36 over Joan Barreda, who set off first this morning, but who fell after 250 km of the day’s special, breaking all his navigation instruments, forcing him to finish the special stage just by the naked eye. Thanks to his third best time, Olivier Pain is now within 13’44” of the third step on the podium, which is still occupied by Jordi Viladoms. As for Cyril Despres, he continued his climb back up the general standings and now only trails fifth placed Helder Rodrigues by 43 seconds. 

Marc Coma: “It was a very long day. I had a little fall at the start, but it wasn’t serious. After that, I tried to maintain a good pace. The important thing is still being here in the race and also to be careful, because there is still one tough day left…”

Provisional result

Dakar 2014, Stage 11:

1. Marc Coma (ESP, KTM) 06:36:08

2. Cyril Despres (FRA, Yamaha) +00:02:51

3. Olivier Pain (FRA, Yamaha) +00:05:28

4. Jordi Viladoms (ESP, KTM) +00:05:53

5. Joan Barreda (ESP, Honda) +00:08:12

6. Helder Rodrigues (PRT, Honda) +00:09:23

7. Juan Pedrero Garcia (ESP, Sherco) +00:09:50

8. Stefan Svitko (SVK, KTM) +00:13:25

9. Jakub Przygonski (POL, KTM) +00:14:40

10. Ivan Jakes (SVK, KTM) +00:14:47

Provisional overall standings:

1. Marc Coma (ESP, KTM) 48:24:41 hrs

2. Joan Barreda (ESP, Honda) +00:52:36

3. Jordi Viladoms (ESP, KTM) +02:07:56

4. Olivier Pain (FRA, Yamaha) +02:21:40

5. Helder Rodrigues (PRT, Honda) +02:30:35

6. Cyril Despres (FRA, Yamaha) +02:31:18

7. Jakub Przygonski (POL, KTM) +02:43:55

8. Daniel Gouet (CHL, Honda) +03:24:35

9. Stefan Svitko (SVK, KTM) +03:46:32

10 David Casteu (FRA, KTM) +04:07:56