After spending most of the year injured, Francisco López took the first stage of the 2012 Dakar in the motorcycle category and now leads a provisional top 5 which represents a break with tradition. Argentina’s Javier Pizzolito (19th last year) finished third. In the truck category, Marcel van Vliet repeats his 2009 exploit by winning the first stage.
Among all the race favourites, Francisco López is the one who has done the most to keep a low profile. But now that the chips are down, it is he who banged his fist on the table harder than anyone else. The Chilean rider sustained a hard fall in last spring’s Rally of Tunisia. His bone fractures meant that the Dakar seemed a distant, even uncertain prospect. After going under the knife on six different occasions, the recovering López was able to start the Pharaons Rally, which he finished in the 36th position. Therefore, during the scrutineering process, “Chaleco” merely emphasised how happy he was just to be able to start the Dakar. But after the first few twists of the right handle, in the short, 57-kilometre-long special stage, he simply cracked the time set by Marc Coma a bit earlier. This was despite the Spaniard’s good memories: he had already won on the road to Santa Rosa in the opening stage of the 2009 Dakar. But this time round, López took his sixth stage win in the rally, which lifts him to the top of a never-seen-before general classification.
Hot on the heels of Marc Coma comes Javier Pizzolito, who posted the 3rd best time in today’s stage. Pizzolito is promised a warm welcome in Santa Rosa once he has completed the 620-kilometre liaison. He has just turned in the strongest performance by an Argentinean rider at the Dakar! He lies just ahead of “miracle man” Quinn Cody, whose motorcycle took a detour through Lima just before reaching Mar del Plata in the nick of time, 4th at 30″, while young Jakub Przygonsky rounds off today’s Top 5, 49″ behind “Chaleco”. Cyril Despres lost 1’48″.
