Van Beveren wins stage four and takes overall Dakar Rally lead
By Team TMX on 11th Jan 18
Rally Dakar Adrien Van Beveren
Putting in a brilliant stage performance, Adrien Van Beveren has won stage four of the Dakar Rally and in doing so the Frenchman takes control of the events provisional overall standings.
Making the day even more special for the Yamalube Yamaha Official Rally Team, team-mate Xavier de Soultrait claimed the runner-up spot to move up to a very strong fifth position.
Everything went according to plan for Van Beveren on stage four. Making full use of his starting position - within the second group of riders - he put his vast sand racing experience to good use.
Remaining focused on his navigation and pushing hard until the very end, he completed the timed special stage five minutes faster than his teammate Xavier de Soultrait and a blistering seven minutes faster than the rest of the field.
Van Beveren is currently leading the overall standings by a little less than two minutes over his closest rival Pablo Quintanilla. With still a long way to go in this 40th edition of the event, Adrien remains focused on the ultimate goal of making history by bringing Yamaha back to the top of the Dakar Rally.
The fifth stage leaves the San Juan de Marcona bivouac and heading south, competitors will have to race a 266km-long special stage on their way to the city of Arequipa.
Van Beveren: I am happy with the victory on this stage. We all started together on the beach and I was in the second group of riders to take the start. It reminded me a lot of the massive start in Le Touquet and it was great fun for me.
My goal was to win it, so I knew I had to be patient and attack whenever that was possible. It all went well for me and I managed to pass many riders even from the first group.
We proved that we have a bike capable of winning long stages. There is still a long way to go but I will do my best to keep this momentum going.
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