Commanding lead for Coma on first stage of Dakar
By TMX Archives on 3rd Jan 09
The first special of the 2009 Dakar should have been an uneventful warm-up but of the four KTM factory riders only Marc Coma made it through untroubled during the 371 kms from Buenos Aires to Santa Rosa to take a commanding lead.
The three other KTM factory riders all ran into major tyre problems. And theyweren't the only ones - many riders, of all abilities and speeds, arrived at theend of the stage on ruined rubber, or in many cases, on their rims. As a resultMarc Coma shares the virtual podium with some unexpected rivals. In second place(at 22'05) is Polish policeman Jacek Czachor (KTM), with Miran Stanovnik (KTM)third (at 24'42). Jordi Viladoms is back in 20th position (at 40'22) with CyrilDespres 22nd (at 41'48). At the time of writing, the fourth member of the team,Alain Duclos, is 80 kilometres from the end of the special and riding on hisrim.
Marc Coma (Repsol KTM) 1st (2h46'17)
We knew it wouldbe hard on tyres here so I elected to use an inner tube instead of a mousse onthe rear. And for me at least the gamble paid off - I took it easy and didn'thave any problems. But that was today, tomorrow could be a different story andinstead of being 40 minutes in front I could be 40 minutes behind. I think thisis going to be a very hard race - especially for the head!
JordiViladoms (Repsol KTM) 20th (at 3h26'39)
Like Marc and Cyril I decidedto use a tube and punctured after only 50 kilometres. It took me about 20minutes to put a new tube in and during that time a lot of riders came past me.When I got going again the dust was crazy and I had to take a few risks to getpast some slower riders and limit the damage. If it carries on like this itlooks like tyres will be the referee of this race!
Cyril Despres(Red Bull KTM) 22nd (3h28'05)
Obviously I knew I was taking a riskstarting on a tube but even now I can't say I regret my decision. I really tookcare, slowed down in the corners and was generally riding slower than Marc. Itwas just a question of bad luck. It wasn't hitting a rock that caused me topuncture it must have been a thorn or a nail. I only noticed when I came to acorner and by that time it was too late - the tyre was destroyed. I rode with itas long as I could and then eventually hard to stop and pull it off. I rode thelast 80 kilometres on the rim. Now the problem is what tactic to adopt. Do Iride slowly for the rest of the race and hope the others have problems, or do Itake a risk, ride hard and try and pull back the time?
The first stageended at Santa Rosa de la Pampa after riders completed the first liason of of196 kilometres, followed by a timed 371km stage and a second liaison of 166km,almost 400 km of very fast racing and a chance to discover the famous Pampas ofArgentina. Stage two, which takes riders 837 km to Puerto Madryn in Patagonia isthe longest stage in the rally and the most southern point on the more than 9000km route through South America.
Provisional results after firststage
1. Marc Coma, Spain, KTM
2. Jacek Czachor, Poland, KTM
3.Miran Stanovnik, Slovenia, KTM,
4. Frans Verhoeven, Netherlands, KTM
5.Jonah Street, USA, KTM
6. David Fretigne, France, Yamaha
7. PalAnders Ullevalseter, Norway, KTM
8. Henk Knuiman, Netherlands, KTM
9.Jose Helio Rodrigues Filho, Brazil, Honda
10. Olivier Pain, France,Yamaha .
Other KTM
20. Jordi Viladoms, Spain, KTM
22. CyrilDespres, France, KTM