Dakar 2015
Monday 12 January
8th leg: Uyuni - Iquique
Link section: 24 km – Special: 472 km – Neutralisation: 274 km – Special: 38 km – Link section: 0 km – Total: 808 km
It was supposed to be a treat but the incursion into Bolivia will leave a bitter taste in the mouth of quite a few riders. This morning it was raining and the Salar d'Uyuni was under some 15 centimetres of water.
Many riders called for the Special to be cancelled or at least for the start not to be in line as planned. But the organisers turned a deaf ear and although the pictures are striking despite the clouds and rain, several riders had electrical problems and were unable to restart their machines at the end of the first Special. But it was certainly Joan Barreda who had the most galling experience. After breaking a handlebar yesterday in a crash and covering the last 150 km one-handed, he finally found a donor in the person of Demian Guiral and was able to take the start. But today he had a mechanical problem and had to be towed by team mate Jeremias, which meant kissing good bye to his chances of victory. Marc Coma is now top of the leader board 9' ahead of Paolo Goncalves and 11' ahead of Quintanilla, who won today’s stage followed by Pedrero, Svitko, Price, the incredible Laia Sanz and Xavier de Soultrait who came in sixth.
There were a number of DNFs including Botturi (Yamaha), Viladoms (KTM), Gouet (Honda), Metge (Yamaha) and Farres (GasGas), who was found in a state of hypothermia.
In quad, Gonzalez won the Special ahead of Ignacio Casale who made up time on Lafuente, in third, and Rafal Sonik, in eighth.
At 19h, there were still many who had not returned to the bivouac….