STAGE 4 : SAN JUAN - CHILECITO Road connection: 269.84 km – Special Stage : 326.13 km - road connection: 153.94 km Total : 749.91 km
San Juan - Chilecito was one of the most beautiful stages of the Dakar according to the Sport Director of the race, David Castera. In fact, the landscapes changed and we left behind crops and sierras. The region has more hills with magnificent reddish canyons and cacti. La Famatina, a mountain range of more than 4800 m where the copper mine La Mejicana is, decorates the landscape.
On top, the bike race takes the same flavor of the previous years: the two kings, Coma and Després, are out of reach, and if the Catalonian rider was delayed yesterday, today he was even more motivated. Stony or not, he attacked full gas to get the stage victory and more than two minutes over Després. “It was a long and difficult special stage, says Coma, mostly at the beginning of it, where navigation skills were required, the ground was gullied by the rain, and there was still water in the “ríos” (dried rivers). I tried to stay focused and to keep a good rhythm to take back time on Cyril.”
The chase is open, but the two top riders are already far from the rest of the wolf pack. Frans Verhoeven (Sherco) was the fastest and finished 3rd even with a mechanical problem. And if Helder Rodrigues (4th of the day) takes the third overall position from Casteu, he is still 26 minutes behind Desprès! Paolo Conçalves is in the 5th position. The Portuguese took the wrong way at kilometer 99 completed the stage in front of Pedero, Duclos, Svitko and Chaleco López, who yearns for the Dakar to arrive to Chile. David Casteu was 10th today and gave his 3rd provisional position in the standings away.
Among amateur riders, the Dakar Challenge Winner in Pharaons Rally, Edouard Boulanger, had a fall while riding in the dust of a quad and arrived to the bivouac with his assistance truck.
The victory of the stage among quads was for Tomas Maffei, followed by Alejandro and Marcos Patronelli. He also made the mistake at kilometer 99 while La Fuente had a puncture. Argentina takes the lead over quads!