Fog foils Stage 11 of 2009 Dakar
By TMX Archives on 14th Jan 09
Just as the 2009 Dakar was about to leave Peru, cross the Andes and re-enter Argentina for the eleventh stage of the rally, organisers announced they were forced to cancel due to heavy fog forecast for the whole route. The desert coastal areas of Chile and Peru are often subject to fogwhen cool air comes in from the Pacific and hits the Andes Mountains.
Cancellation at dramatic time of the rally
The cancellation came as a disappointment at a time when the rallyis entering not only some of the most dramatic scenery but also at acritical stage. KTM factory rider Marc Coma still maintains acomfortable 1 hour 24 minutes and 50 seconds overall lead over thesecond placed Frenchman David Fretagne. Meanwhile KTM factory riderCyril Despres finished hot on the rear wheel of Fretagne in Stage 10and is now just 3 minutes behind him. Both Coma and Despres, long timerivals and veterans and winners of Dakar Rallies in Africa are verymuch aware that the race is still wide open. In the last rally held inAfrica in 2007, Coma looked a certain winner then crashed in the finalstages and had to withdraw leaving second-placed Despres with theprize.
Riders to miss "most majestic" stage
Stage 11, which was to take the contestants from Copiapo toFiambala, a total of 680 km with a special of 215 km across the PasoSan Francisco and into a sandy landscape not unlike Mauretania, hadbeen billed as the "most majestic" stage of the rally. Organisersannounced that because the timing of the stage could not be altered dueto the crossing of the Andes and the border crossing between Chile andArgentina they had no alternative but to cancel. Instead participantswill now proceed to the Fiambala bivouac in liaison on Wednesdaymorning local time.
Stage 12: facing the formidable "White Dunes"
On Thursday riders tackle Stage 12 from Fiambala to La Rioja, adistance of 518 km of which 253 km is the special. Back in Argentinaand now in the closing phases of the rally, they will have to call uponall of their technical skills to attack a range of dunes, including theformidable "white dunes".
KTM dominates the rally
At this stage KTM riders dominate the standings with nine of thetop ten positions. Of the four KTM factory riders, Coma is first,Despres is third and Jordi Viladoms is currently in fourth overall. Thefourth factory rider, Alain Duclos experienced his best day of therally in Stage Ten coming home second on the day.
Check out www.dakar.com for full results