Dakar 2014 - Official Event Coverage - thank you all, lurkers and posters!!!

Barreda, yesterday:

"I liked this first stage. I know this is not important for the overall. Moreover, I am not sure I'll have some benefit to have won, because tomorrow I will be opening the track and thus I'll be in disadvantaged. I knew that if I won, tomorrow I would be the first, on the first day with dunes . But I also knew I wanted to win. I've come to realize as the sun rose. I wanted to win. And I have concentrated much on victory in the final kilometers. I did it for Honda. For Yamazaki , the leader of the project, with all the pressure on him. And even knowing the size of the enterprise he has relied on me instead of taking the easy choice: sign a renowned pilot . Tomorrow I have to change the chip. But I have a clear conscience because we won a stage !
I have seen my rivals very strong. I did not think Marc and Cyril would attack as they have today. They can say whatever they want , but seeing them made skids and pulling the throttle like they did, clearly they were going full speed."
(...)

Me ha gustado mucho esta primera etapa. Sé que este no es un día importante para la general. Además, ni siquiera tengo claro si le saco algún beneficio a haber ganado el primer día, porque mañana me tocará abrir pista y, así, parto con desventaja. Aunque lo sabía. Sabía que si ganaba mañana sería el primero en salir, en la primera jornada en que aparecen dunas. Pero tambien sabía que quería ganar. Me he ido dando cuenta a medida que salía el sol. Quería ganar. Y me he concentrado mucho en lograr la victoria en los últimos kilómetros. Lo he hecho por Honda. Por el japonés Yamazaki, el líder del proyecto, por toda la presión que tiene encima. Y aún sabiendo la magnitud de la empresa ha confiado en mí en lugar de tomar la decisión más fácil: fichar a un piloto de renombre. Mañana tengo que cambiar el chip. Pero me queda la conciencia tranquila porque sé que eso ya está ahí: ¡ya tenemos una etapa!
A mis rivales los he visto muy fuertes. No pensaba que el primer día Marc y Cyril atacarían como lo han hecho y hoy han salido a por todas. Ellos pueden decir lo que quieran, pero viendo las derrapadas que hacían y el gas que daban está claro que iban a muerte.

http://blogs.elpais.com/dakar/2014/01/ya-tenemos-una-etapa.html

It's very much a niche event in the UK as well. Mark Thatcher, Charlie Boorman and now Race to Recovery are a bit more in the mainstream consciousness but I'm ashamed to say that 999/1000 people here would never have heard of any of our Dakar moto heroes.

Gordon in. +1:13:11
There were reports of the buggy being towed.

Google translate brings up an odd story. Not sure whether I get it right. Try out yourself...

Daily Blog from CB2: Day 2

So DR (David Reeve) is back in the Bivvy safe and sound, coming in about 20mins ago. He is knackered having had a hard day in the saddle.

The 1st stages of the day were a liaison along a tar road out to the “Special.” The liaison was very long. We were passed by plenty of riders on their way out to the liaison and already it was noticeable the levels of fatigue this race is going to put these guys to. Some were sitting on one bum cheek, others hanging their le...gs off foot pegs, some weaving on the road a little. It’s only the 2nd day in and already it’s very hard work.

The special or “racing stage” was no exception. The 1st part of this was a flat out slog on a gravel road. DR managed to get past the quads who kick up dust on a wide section of gravel so no dangerous manoeuvres required to keep up. He said his throttle was pinned wide open through this section. Then came the dunes. 100 kms of them. The sand was soft and hard work. The dunes were tall so if you didn’t manage to get up in one attempt you had to come all the way down and start again. Energy sapping stuff.

He knows the Rekluse would have made the day easier for him, but it’s too late to dwell on that now. We may get Scott to replace the Rekluse back into the bike for Chile next week as there is plenty of dunes there. The rest of the stages in Argentina do not contain much in the way of sand.

So he’s just had a nice cool RV shower and is having a short rest now. Its 16:00 hrs Argentina time. We will make sure he has lots of food tonight. The food in the Bivvy is very good.

I will know tomorrows start times etc later.

The bike is getting some TLC right now from Scott and Jaime. DR has a Marathon stage for the next 2 days which means we don’t see him for 2 days. This makes the TLC the bike is getting now even more important as it has to last 2 days without FRR’s Technicians touching it.

Riaan (van Niekerk) spoke to Gilly earlier after his return. He had a difficult day as well.

Can't wait to hear this one.
Glad he's in!

I sure am and thank you so much to all you kind ADV F5 people for your kind comments and keeping me entertained even though I do not contribute but just lurk these days !!

As I hope my earlier post made clear, I am not anti-ASO in the slightest.

However, I agree with BC61- all this talk of longer/ harder/ blah blah is a lot of hype. They absolutely cannot be trusted to tell the truth about this stuff. They are masters of pumping the media and riding waves of rumors, and everything they say publicly must be regarded from that viewpoint.

IMHO.

live feed from dakar site

GORDINIGATE!!

Wow, this is crazy.. It's norwegian so I can understand most of it. Google translate is good enough for you to get the idea.

TRANSLATION BY GOOGLE
The whole thing has been a surreal situation. After the bike stopped , a somewhat confused Pål Anders met by five men after his reportedly so some questionable out . They should have said that they would help him carry the broken bike back to the paddock . The bike is packed with very valuable equipment, as Pål Anders was therefore some doubt about whether he should leave it. One of the men appeared brother looked up in a car and offered Pål Anders sitting on the last bit to the depot , while the other guys were going to take the bike. After 20 minutes, the man however Pål Anders sitting on a telephone call from one of the other men who were left with the bike and says that his brother has shot himself and died ... This explains Pål Anders me , but he knows as little of it all that we do! ? ! ... The driver then chooses to drop by Pål Anders who will ride on with someone else, while the driver turns to talk to the police and possibly return to where it dead brother , the four remaining men and bike to Pål Anders is . About our man ever get to see the bike again is uncertain ..

Wow, definitely an adventure!

Whut? :huh

Can anyone get anything more about PAU's story?

We have a mystery to solve.

Normally I try not to quote m'sel, but I'm making an exception this time.

SHORTCUTGATE!!!

PlanetRobby retweeted a photo of him being towed but I can't tell if it's from today or yesterday.

@MarcelVermeij 5m
Dit is wat kwam nadat Gordon met een sleepkabel om een lift vroeg. #Dakar2014 pic.twitter.com/iE0WBg5kXB

Bummer, maybe next year they'll do a proper shakedown. Maybe even a few rounds of the FIA world championship to make sure it's up to the task. I'm getting more and more disheartened by this program's inability to really take the Dakar seriously (year round testing, well sorted cars, etc)