Wednesday, 24 August 2016
2nd Stage: Antofagasta – Bahia Inglesa
Link section: 66.90 km – Special 1: 162.01 km – Link section: 63.04 km –Special 2: 243.9 km – Link section: 29.29 km - Total: 498.24 km.
triking out from Antofagasta at 07h, the riders made their way to the start of the Special close to the sculpture by Mario Irarrázabal, a giant hand emerging from the desert, culminating at an altitude of 1100 m.
Unfortunately, they again had to wait for the strip of fog to lift so that the helicopter could access the site, and the start was delayed by 45'.
It was a long, long day on the trails and, towards the end, in the legendary dunes of Copiapó. All the riders were really tired at the finish but happy to have negotiated this exciting stage.
Toby Price (KTM), winner of the Dakar, won the special with a 1'03 lead over Pablo Quintanilla (Husqvarna), who is still top of the leader board just 10 seconds ahead of the man from Australia. “It was a really long stage with tricky navigation but I managed to fix my mistakes and take the Stage!” It was tough but I am happy with my day. It was a great day of riding! Tomorrow will be shorter, thank goodness.”
“It was a long and difficult stage”, said Chile’s Pablo Quintanilla, “with incredibly varied terrain: dry river beds, mountains, dunes… I stayed calm in the tricky passages and finished just behind Toby.”
The young Honda rider, Kevin Benavides, is still on the learning curve, finishing in 3rd position ahead of his Honda team mate, Paulo Gonçalves: “I found the special really long”, said the man from Portugal. “Off trail, I took quite a blow to the stomach, but I managed to finish despite the pain. Now it’s over, I feel much better”.
Brabec (Honda) is in fifth, followed by Walkner, who was exhausted at the finish: “It’s been a while since I rode for so long”, said the Austrian rider, “but the sight of our bivouac on the magnificent beach at Bahia Inglesa is a great reward for our efforts!” Sam Sunderland was scowling at the finish after getting stuck in the dust behind another rider. The British rider came 7th ahead of Renet Renet (Husqvarna), Caimi (Honda) and Cornejo (KTM).
Tomorrow, the loop Bahia Inglesa-Bahia Inglesa will take the riders out into the dunes of Copiapó.
Judith Tomaselli