Dakar Rally – stage 12

On the last major sandy special of Dakar 2014 (the penultimate day of the event) Cyril Despres once again dominated and picked up his second special stage victory of the year, ahead of Marc Coma…

Coma, the leader of the general standings, is still in full control and all the more comfortable since his closest pursuer Joan Barreda experienced serious mechanical problems. In short, Despres won again, Coma controlled his event lead, and Barreda fell apart at 350 km of the 699-km stage between El Salvador and Serana.

The day was won in the style of a past-master by Cyril Despres, claiming his second triumph in 2014 and his 33rd on the Dakar! Second to start in the morning behind Marc Coma, the title holder quickly caught up with the Catalan and overtook him to open the way.

Behind them, the day’s big loser was Joan Barreda, second in the general standings on departure from El Salvador in the morning. Following electrical problems on his Honda, the Catalan had to stop several times from the 265-km point onwards and crossed the finishing line on foot, 2:29’35 after Despres! His misfortunes smiled on Olivier Pain, the third quickest today, 5’57’ behind the stage winner, but also Helder Rodrigues, fourth to finish, 7’21” behind Despres, and Jordi Viladoms, fifth placed 9’10” behind the day’s fastest man.

In the general standings, Marc Coma, who received a fifteen minute time penalty yesterday evening after changing his engine, takes a decisive advantage for victory with a lead that now stands at 1:59’49” over none other than his water carrier Jordi Viladoms. The second ranked Catalan will nevertheless have to be careful on the final stage, since he only has a lead of 10’27” over the first Yamaha ridden by Olivier Pain, who is in turn a short 3’45” in front of his team-leader, Cyril Despres, who could still finish on the podium in Valparaiso.