17th January
Liaison Sections: 219 km
Racing Stage: 174 Km
Total Distance: 393 Km
What happened Friday 16th Jan:
Toby Price won the stage, increasing his 3rd place lead to 11 minutes 39, taking the pressure off.
The overall leader Marc Coma continued to control the race and is set for his 5th Dakar victory. Second man Paulo Goncalves took 3 minutes 23 seconds out of Coma, but still sits 17 minutes 49 behind the race leader. Ruben Faria was the sacrificial lamb and waited 6 minutes for Marc Coma to pass after the start, just in case there were any problems on the stage.
Quintanilla is in fourth, followed by Svitko rounding out the top 5. Unbelievably Laia Sainz holds on to her best ever Dakar, eighth overall.
Yesterday’s stage:
The night before last, the riders prepared their last road book for yesterdays stage and there was a feeling of relief and excitement for the day, the last day of the 2015 Dakar.
Traditionally, riders would start in reverse order with Marc Coma setting off last. Kuba Pryzgonski, waited for Marc to pass and followed him to the end of the special, which was cut short due to heavy rain, the finish was at CP3 after just over 100 kilometers.
Marc Coma took his fifth Dakar victory matching Cyril Despres successes, the Spaniard took control of the race after the first marathon stage, where salt ended a large numbers of competitor’s race including Broadlink’s Riaan van Niekerk, who’s KTM came to a halt with electrical problems after crossing the salt pans in Bolivia. Riaan was lying 11th overall at the time, it was a real disappointment after finishing 13th in 2013 and 12th in 2014. The Dakar this year needed not only skill but also a lot of luck. Paulo Goncalves finished second overall after a battle to try and win time back, he was not so lucky having to change engines on the second marathon stage and taking a 15 minute penalty. The gap in the end was only 16 minutes 52 seconds.
Australia’s Toby Price shone on his maiden Dakar, with a 3rd place podium finish. He won the penultimate stage yesterday and proved that he is worthy of a Dakar win, this young gun will definitely be one to watch for the future. Fourth place went to Chilean Pablo Quintanilla, rounding off the top five was Stefan Svitko. In all there were 7 KTM’s in the top ten overall.
Bring on Dakar 2016 !
