Dakar 2015
Thursday 7 January
5th leg: Copiapò - Antofagasta
Link section: 174 km – Special: 458 km – Link section: 65 km – Total: 697 km
The Dakar continues its progression northwards and the next stop is at Antofagasta, beside the Pacific Ocean. The Special starts 174 km into the Atacama Desert in order to avoid the Camanchaca , a morning mist common by the sea as a result of the proximity of the Ocean, the desert and the Cordillera.
The fifth Special covered some fast tracks made up of sand and earth, interspersed with fesh fesh and sometimes climbing as high as 3 000 m.
This second Chilean leg takes place in the Cordillera and the pre-Cordillera, on terrain made up of stones and fesh fesh with large hidden boulders, but this did not slow down Marc Coma and only Joan Barreda was able to keep up, along with Quinanilla, a surprising third.
Joan Barreda set out first, but Marc Coma caught him up after 30 kilometres. The four-times winner of the Dakar was going flat out and the Honda rider hung on right behind, losing only 2’16 to his KTM rival. They kept up a cracking pace and we crossed our fingers as we watched the images of the two men, foot to the floor, in these treacherous mountains. Marc Coma is smiling but we sense the tension. « Joan has the advantage for the moment”, he says, “but the race is still long and there are two marathon legs. I shall give him a run for his money… “
Joan Barreda (Honda) is a bit worried as his bike is having trouble generating enough power and his technical team will be checking the injectors as there are other mountain legs to come.
The young Chilean Pablo Quintanilla admits that the rankings are the last thing on his mind. “I did my race today. I rode fast on the first more rolling part but afterwards I slowed down because the leaders were really going flat out. I started to get tired physically and at the end I had no water left and I started to feel dizzy… I need to keep my strength for the marathon legs but i want to make the most of this terrain that I know really well.” Stefan Svitko (KTM) put in a good performance, finishing ahead of Goncalves (Honda), Rodrigues (Honda) and Jeremias Israel, who has recovered from the blow to the head he suffered in yesterday’s crash. Matthias Walkner finished in 8th place just ahead of Alain Duclos (Sherco) who had a nightmare day: “It was hellish for me out there today and my arms took all the strain. We were riding very fast through the fesh fesh with lots of stones and on top of that there was the navigation...My back and my arms are wrecked. I really hated this Special.”
In quad, Rafal Sonik won the Special again with a lead of almost 11' over last year’s winner, Ignacio Casale, and 21' over Jeremias Gonzalez. Sergio La Fuente came in 4th.