Actually, Cyril will depart from the 11th position tomorrow (20'30" after Gonçalves, right?) and 18"30 behind H.Rodrigues. A lot of action to expect again!
bummer about COma- It was nice to see Fretigne in the list... surprised there hasnt been more noise from him.
I expect Cyril to unleash hell tomorrow. He was doing a very commendable job for the first two thirds of the stage today. When leading it is only normal for the guy behind to make up the 2 minutes on you in the first, say, 80-100kms of the stage. That was not the case for the majority of his run today, I think it was a navigational error while trying to find a waypoint that screwed him up and cost him so much time. Helder, when stopping to see if Marc was OK gained a huge advantage. Not saying in any way that it was malicious or in bad sport, but effectively he probably had 5-6 more "rabbits" (riders) pass in front of him, which 90% of the time means that he didn't have to navigate, and he certainly didn't have to waste time to locate the tricky WP. All this while gaining back about 8 minutes in time (or however long it was that he stopped to check up on Marc)... Hope what I'm saying makes sense
Barring any adjustments, today's finish order should be tomorrow's starting order. 1 GONCALVES** 2 RODRIGUES** 3 LOPEZ** 4 BARREDA** 5 CASTEU** 6 SUNDERLAND** 7 BOTTURI** 8 FISH** 9 VERHOEVEN** 10 MIRANDA-ZANOL** 11 DESPRES** 12 PAIN** 13 DUCLOS** 14 CURTIS** 15 VAN-NIEKERK** 16 PIZZOLITO** 17 PEDRERO-GARCIA** 18 SOUVIGNET** 19 KNUIMAN** 20 PRZYGONSKI**
Well it Helders to lose. With an 11 minute lead he just needs to play it smart and he'll be on top of the podium. HRC has gotta be stoked Stoked to see young Sam in the top ten HRC water carriers....a bit far back to be effective...just saying...
This has got to hurt for Team Orange! To see Red on the podium on the first event (and as a run-up to the Dakar) will really make the Big One interesting to say the least! :eek1 I'll do my best when in Peru to get you guys as much info as possible! Neil is there now and I'll be in-country Dec 26th!
Coma update: "Failed to meet one third of the 291 competitive kilometers of the third stage of Rally Morocco, I had to take from Erfoud to Zagora. Marc Coma (KTM) suffered a fall that left him out of the race. It was a camel grass area, complicated driving, where he finished on the floor, landing on his right shoulder. Behind him came Hélder Rodrigues (Honda) and Joan Barreda (Husqvarna), who have stood to activate the beacon, requiring medical intervention for the injured. Once evacuated care center, doctors have diagnosed a dislocated right shoulder. The pilot will be repatriated soon to Barcelona, where he will undergo different tests to accurately assess the extent of the injury and start, as far as possible recovery. Eat The intention is to be able to be ready to compete in the Dakar Rally 2013, which will leave Lima (Peru) on January 6. At the time of the fall, Coma occupied the second position of the rally, after the race leader, Frenchman Cyril Despres (KTM), which circulated ahead of the Spaniard." From here (in spanish)
The french are a bit more detailed: "The KTM rider suffered a double fracture of the shoulder and humerus. Blow to Coma since this injury could jeopardize his participation or at least seriously hamper his preparation for the next Dakar."
It looks like the Aliens are really pushing. From what I remember from previous Dakars, Speedy isn't all that good at keeping the lead while having to navigate, so I guess having him in front won't help Helder all that much, probably KTM will knock some sense on Cryl so he won't risk an injury so close to the Dakar (really hope Marc is ok), though he'l probably be flying tomorrow and cutting a few minutes on HR lead. I'm a little disappointed with JC so far behind pace, hope e picks up the rhythm until January. Really proud of being Portuguese right now
Agreed, JC is not being paid to risk as much as the frontrunners. In any case, a water-carrier's role has shifted from helping his #1 rider possibly win the stage by handing stuff over, to just ensuring he finishes it to continue the next day, especially now that specials are being decided in matters of minutes between the 3 aliens
