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

Haha, just heard on Fox Peterhansel admitting to following the tracks of motorcycles...getting lost looking for WP

Without doubt the best TV play by play and coverage... a live - post game - show.

The ARG tv also do a good job in past years of the pre/post rally podium coverage.

Would be awesom to have an F5 supported "Radio F5/ADV" crew do something similar... podcast.

That would shake it up again.

REDO!

EVen bigger can of worms to open, complete with a whoop ass chaser! :eek1

I was thinking about that yesterday when he was leading the course on a separate track from the bikes and having trouble finding his way.

Wondered if part of his expertise was that he was so good at paying attention to the bike tracks. With them non-existent, he was lost and driving in circles. :huh

Hard to say after hearing Peterhansels interview, he said the WP was good, they made navigation mistakes.

Dunno about the rest of you, but I'm feeling let down by Manny.

He's one of us, got himself embedded in the ASO, and we've gotten pretty much jack from him, except for his occasional pic of his bird of the night.


We've been deserted for silicone. That hurts.

+1

And just like that one of the Aliens has a 40+ minute lead in the overall...:huh

Yes and after all we did for him last year :huh

Plus one on that request!
Late from work...

don't know if any of you saw this red bull TV stage 4 but the imagery is phenomenal http://www.redbull.com/en/motorsports/offroad/stories/1331624437934/daily-dakar-diary-stage-four

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Marc Coma, the three times winner of the event, put distance between himself and his rivals on the day's stage, which was partially shortened due to the extreme temperatures threatening the safety of the bikers.
After four days of racing, a good number of the favourites on the Dakar have already suffered for various reasons or even returned home in some cases. Marc Coma, however, chose the morning of the 5th stage to burst into action and strike a major blow against all his rivals, whether named Cyril Despres, already in difficulty the day before, or Joan Barreda, who ground to a halt on the route to Tucuman. After having overtaken “Chaleco” Lopez then Juan Pedrero, the winner of yesterday's stage, the KTM leader re-asserted his status by putting an impressive distance between himself and his pursuers. On completion of the first part of the special stage, a 211-km long section, the comeback king, who had to miss out on the Dakar 2013 due to an injured shoulder, avoided the many traps into which fell Paulo Gonçalves (who dropped out after his bike caught fire) or Cyril Despres (overheated engine, navigation errors, etc.). Since cohesion is a sacred concept for the Catalans, it was natural that his closest pursuer was none other than his water carrier, Jordi Viladoms, 13 minutes behind. A gap was opened on Despres, who finished 45 minutes later; on Barreda and Pain, who lost out in similar proportions; and on Lopez, who trailed in more than 50 minutes after.

The situation seemed to take a turn for the worst at the start of the second section to be covered, due to a leak spotted on the petrol tank of his KTM. However, when on form, Coma enjoys luck as well as his talent. A quick-fix repair carried out with Viladoms already put a small smile back on his face before, several minutes later, the news was announced that the second section of the special stage had been cancelled, meaning the times at the end of the first section stood for the stage results. In total, the day seems to be an excellent one for Coma, because he now only has three rivals positioned within less than an hour in the general standings, namely Joan Barreda, “Chaleco” and Jordi Viladoms, respectively 41'10'', 53'40'' and 58'58'' behind.

The quad category witnessed the same modification to the programme, but without seeing such a significant sea-change in the standings. Ignacio Casale retains the lead of the general standings, but his closest rival is now Sergio Lafuente, who added his third special stage victory to his roll of honour, overtaking Rafal Sonik to take the bottom step of the virtual podium.

1 (3) 002 - marc coma (esp) ktm 07:35:15 (1) 08:06:57 (1) 08:32:38 (1) --:--:-- (-) --:--:-- (-) --:--:-- (-) --:--:-- (-) --:--:-- (-) --:--:-- (-) --:--:-- (-) --:--:-- (-) 09:51:08
2 (11) 004 - jordi viladoms (esp) ktm 07:51:15 (11) --:--:-- (-) --:--:-- (-) --:--:-- (-) --:--:-- (-) --:--:-- (-) --:--:-- (-) --:--:-- (-) --:--:-- (-) --:--:-- (-) --:--:-- (-) 10:19:02

How could Coma got helped by Viladoms,
at wp they were 15 min apart and at ASS half an hour?

Sometimes I find myself appreciating that the Dakar is inherently chaotic and there's no realistic way they could run the race without having the types of scandals that frustrate everyone. After hearing a lot of talk here about how things work, much of the bending of the rules doesn't bother me. I see it as part of the race.

maybe even a F5 youtube channel ?
I'm actually a film student here in Romania (and have enough experience in sound production and video-sound postproduction) and also an amateur (overstating) in Rally-raid events here

just sayin'