Dakar 2012 - Stage 14

Stage 14, the final stage, is from Pisco to Lima, covering 283km.

An interesting start today as the starting order is reversed, meaning all the faster riders will have to  start from the back and pass slower traffic.  Not much to report though.  Despres was taking it easy, riding alongside his team mate all the way to the finish.  Coma changed his engine the previous evening, taking another time penalty knock and putting him well outside the reach of catching Despres.  Rodrigues has done really well this year, riding his Yamaha into 3rd spot overall.  Great job.

Overall standings sees the following:

1. Despres
2. Coma  +00:53:20
3. Rodrigues  +1:11:17
4. Viladoms  +1:40:56
5. Svitko  1:47:28
6. Ullevalseter  +2:11:56
7. Farres Guell  +2:14:22
8. Botturi  +2:59:04
9. Pain  +3:17:50
10. Zanol  +3:25:56

Although the top 10 is dominated by KTM, I can see that the other names are slowly creeping in there.  Hopefully next year Bort can bring Husqvarna into the top 5!

So, Despres takes his 4th title.  Great job.  He was consistent throughout.  It was a great battle between Coma and Despres and I look forward to more of the same next year.

Dakar 2012 - Stage 12

Interesting start to the stage as the bikers were put in a separate Bivouac, no assistance was allowed and no change of clothes.

Today's stage from Arequipa to Nasca was 440km long and covered massive dunes.  Despres started the stage, with Coma following  Coma didn't impress too much initially, but getting to the dunes, he gunned the bike and pushed ahead of Despres.  Aubert, starting in the top 5, got lost early on.  It's his first Dakar, so give him a break.  The same happened to Bort.  He did make up for it later, coming second in the stage.

The top 5 for the stage was Coma, Bort, Viladoms, Despres and Goncalves with overall standings being Coma, Despres, Rodrigues, Viladoms and Svitko.  Coma is leading Despres by 00:01:35.  Man, this is going to be tight.

Dakar 2012 - Stage 13

Stage 13 is from Nasca to Pisco, covering 375m.  Despres started 4th, playing catch-up.  He passed Bort and Viladoms and then closed in to just 50 seconds behind Coma at waypoint 2.  After refueling, Coma gunned it over the dunes and pushed awat from Despres by 3 minutes.  Just 30 seconds overall.

Then, Coma runs 2km off course and looses a significant amount of time!  This results in Despres coming in first at the finish; Coma 6 minutes behind him, losing 13 minutes overall.  His gearbox has been giving him issues since the start of the stage and getting lost didn't help either.

Rodrigues is still in a solid 3rd position and it looks like he'll be keeping that to the end.  Viladoms has registered the 3rd fastest time for the day and it looks like he's got loads of promise for next year's race.  Svitko hasn't changed his engine on the KTM and this has pushed him up the general standings, but he's sustained an injury, which has slowed him down and might hamper a good result.

Stage win goes to Rodrigues, with Despres in 2nd and Viladoms in 3rd.  Bort and Goncalves came in at 4th and 5th respectively.

Dakar 2012 - Stage 11

Stage 11 from Arica to Arequipa would have covered 705km, but was shortened due to rain overnight.  New territory to all the riders as they head into Peru for the first time in the race.

Coma, Despres and Bort all make navigational errors, but it doesn't impact significantly on their times.  Farres Guell, a Spanish KTM rider, takes the lead briefly, but Despres pushes through and takes the stage win, pushing him 00:02:22 ahead of Coma in the overall standings.

There was some drama at a river crossing after overnight rain swelled some of the rivers and some of the bikes sucked some water into the engines as they took them across.  One of which was Rodrigues, making him lose 5 minutes and after having changed his engine the previous night, he's already lost 15 minutes.  Faria suffered the same fate with his bike getting water in, after taking a different crossing over the same river.

Goncalves got a 6 hour penalty after being towed to the finish, putting him out of contention for this year.  Pity.

So, the stage top 5 goes to Despres, Farres Guell, Coma, Aubert and Bort.  Good to see a different mix in the top 5 today.

Overall, Despres leads Coma, then it's Rodrigues, Viladoms and Svitko.

Dakar 2012 - Stage 10

Iquique to Arica, covering 694km.  The last stage in Chile, before heading into Peru.

Casteu losing some 30 minutes right at the start of the stage when his bike gave engine troubles again.  Not a great race for him this year.  Goncalves also had to make up some time as he changed his engine and got the 15 minute penalty.  He did well, until the first checkpoint when he had engine trouble with the Husqvarna and that pushed him back into 7th place.

Bort did again did exceptionally well, winning the stage, by catching up with Coma and Despres and staying with them.  He also got an injury when he twisted his leg badly, but even this didn't slow him down.  He won the stage, beating Coma by 00:01:32.  Well done mate!

So, Rodrigues still hasn't changed his engine, but with Casteu's Yamaha giving him issues, they're probably starting to think about doing that now.  Viladoms also hasn't changed his engine on the KTM and that's allowed him to move into the top 5.  Stage top 5 goes to Bort, Coma, Despes, Rodrigues and Viladoms, respectively.

Overall, Despres leads Coma by only 21 seconds!  This is going to be an awesome battle.  3rd, 4th and 5th goes to Rodrigues, Viladoms and Svitko respectively.

Dakar 2012 - Stage 9

Stage 9 and most of the teams are changing or have changed their engines.  New rules for the Dakar imposes a 15 minute penalty on teams for an engine change.  The top names can afford this though as their well ahead of the rest, given that they all change engines.  Rodrigues will however not be changing his Yamaha engine as regularly as the other bikes, which could give him a very good advantage if he doesn't have to take those 15 minute penalties.

This stage covers 566km.  Also, it has that amazing drop on the beach from the sand dunes just outside Iquique.  So, starting off in Antofagasta Coma was trying to set the pace, but Despres was blasting along.  He took 4 minutes from Coma in just 2 and half hours.

Bort again is doing exceptionally well.  I'm keen to see how his career will improve over the next few years. Big promise.

So, espres beats Coma by 00:03:54 for the stage and leads overall by 00:02:28.  Bort is in at 3rd and then Rodrigues with Goncalves in 5th.  Overall, it's Rodrigues in 3rd, then Goncalves, with Viladoms in 5th.

Just worth a mention here.  Watching the cars race, I saw Peterhansel, the current race leader in the cars section, crossing a river where a bike was trying to cross.  The rider was standing next to his bike, pushing it across.  He wasn't blocking he road as he was off to the edge of the crossing, but the Frenchman want past him and hit him causing the rider to drop his bike in the water and clearly injuring him in the process.  Peterhansel didn't even stop to apologise.  What's going on here?  This is not the Dakar spirit.  I'd like to see the officials jump in here.

Dakar 2012 - Stage 8

Copiapo to Antofagasta


After the rest day, Coma starts the stage and setting a good pace from the start.  Despres was following in his dust, until coming to a river crossing which turned into  mud overnight.  Despres rode straight into it and got hopelessly stuck.  Standing knee-deep in the thick, sticky mud, he struggled for 10 minutes to try and get his bike out.  Goncalves soon joined him in the mud.  Goncalves helped Despres to get his bike to edge of the road and Despres eventually got out and headed off, leaving Goncalves on his own.  Poor form Despres!

Ullevalsetter also fell into the trap, but luckily ended up close to the edge of the road, so he had less trouble getting out, but still lost time.  The teams protested to have this time deducted, which it did.  In my opinion, this isn't right.  This is part of racing out in the unknown.  Yes, they have notes, but you'll surely get thrown the curve ball from time to time.  I'm pretty sure if it was just some of the lower rated riders that it wouldn't have been granted.

So, stage win goes to Coma.  Following is Faria, Ridrigues, Bort and Svitko.  In the overall rankings, Coma jumps into the overall lead with 00:01:26.

Dakar 2012 - Stage 7

The game of cat and mouse continues.  Despres started first on the stage this morning and this meant that he had to open the road for the rest, making him lose time, whereas Coma benefited from this and took the stage win by 00:02:03, but this was a very long stage, so it probably hammered Coma a bit more.  Overall, Coma is still 00:07:48 behind Despres.

Lopez had a bit of a bad start to the day with a crash early on, damaging his bike and hurting his leg, causing him to lose time.  Young guns Bort and Svitko did really well, but navigation errors made them loose a lot of time.  Rodrigues had some trouble with his Yamaha, causing him to lose time as well.  Goncalves had a great day though, making up good time.

3rd, 4th and 5th goes to Rodrigues, Goncalves and Casteu respectively.

Dakar 2012 - Stage 6

Stage 6 has been cancelled due to snow over the Andes, making it impossible for vehicles to get over.  Chile also closed the border crossing.The Paso San Francisco at 4700m has become impassible.

Dakar 2012 - Stage 5

Stage 5 is a short stage as the route gets changed to avoid going through swollen rivers, after big rain overnight. There's chaos at the starting line as riders change their map books for the stage. Coma takes off first, with Despres following closely behind. Big battle between the two on this stage as they keep swapping 1st and 2nd positions for the stage, but eventually Depres comes out on top, winning the stage by 00:01:41.

The Spaniard, Barreda Bort, is a big surprise this year. As a young rider, he's made exceptional ground and finished the stage in 3rd. 4th and 5th goes to Svitko and Viladoms respectively.

Overall, Despres leads Coma by 00:09:51, with Rodrigues, Lopez and Goncalves in 3rd, 4th and 5th respectively. Again, Yamaha, Aprilia and Husqvarna make up the bottom three of the top five riders. Great stuff.

Dakar 2012 - Stage 4

Today, lots of river crossing and quite technical with several navigation mistakes by the top riders.  Despres was gunning it, knowing Coma would want to make up time and so not allowing Coma to catch up in overall standings, despite Coma winning the stage by 2 minutes.  Coma still more than 8 minutes behind overall.  Verhoeven had a great stage, coming in 6 minutes behind Despres and passing Rodrigues along the way.

Also, Przygonski is out of the Dakar after suffering mechanical failure.  Sad to see him leave the race as he did quite well.

Good news also is that Coue has completely recovered from the crash and hypothermia he suffered on stage 2.  Apparently his body temperature was 40 Degrees Celsius when they found him.

Dakar 2012 - Stage 3

Yes, Coma made a big mistake today, luckily not an accident, but he chose the car route for several minutes before realising he was on the wrong road.  It pushed him back into second overall.  Despres taking the stage and moving up into first overall.  Take note, all bikes in the top 5, except for Despres, are non-KTMs.  That's what I want to see.

Quinn Cody crashed hard today, breaking his shoulder and requiring him to be airlifted to the bivouac.  Race over.  A couple of other falls, but nothing too serious.  Over 20 bikes have already retired and we're only up to day 3.  Typical Dakar then...

Dakar 2012 - Stage 2

Stage 2 and Coma's back on top.  Despres is making good ground though.  Husqvarna is also moving up with 3rd overall after the stage.  Overall ranking has Coma (KTM), Despres (KTM), Berreda Bort (Husqvarna), Lopez (Aprilia) and Przygonski (KTM) for the top 5.  Yamaha's also moving up, with Casteu at 6th.

Interview with the stage winner.

Dakar 2012 - Stage 1

First day done and Coma's doing well. He's in second place, 14sec behind the leader, Lopez. Good to see two non-KTMs in the top 5, both Hondas. Cody's second year in the race and I'm hoping he'll do well this year.

So, here's the stage winner's interview.

Dakar 2012...Only a few hours to go.

Yes, the 2012 Dakar starts tomorrow!  My year's been so crazy that it's popped onto my radar pretty quickly.  This year I hope Coma can keep it together and win the race again.  I hope BMW has a better showing than last year and that the other brands give the KTMs some competition.  Also, this year the race ends in Peru, so there's no looping back to Argentina.  It's to northern Chile and then into Peru, ending in Lima.

Can't wait for the race to start.  I'm 8 years old again!