The MRW rider wins the fourth stage and recovers two minutes in the overall standings. Pedrero, sixth today, jumps to the eighth position.
After completing four stages, Marc Coma and Cyril Despres have been the two great protagonists of the motorcycles classification in this Dakar edition. Starting sixth, the Spanish MRW rider completed the stage in 4 hours, 16 minutes and 43 seconds, two minutes faster than Cyril Despres, who still leads the race, now with 8 minutes and 10 seconds over the rider from Avià. His team mate, Joan Pedrero, progressively improved during the stage to get the final sixth place, which allowed him to get the eighth position in the overall standings.
Before the sun announced the start of the day, the MRW riders got on their bikes to complete a long link before beginning the 326km timed stage. Marc Coma started sixth and, from the first CP (Control Point) confirmed that he was the fastest of the day. After catching Casteu, Rodrigues, Gonçalves, and Verhoeven, the rider from Avià achieved his second stage victory of the year, with a final advantage of 2 minutes and 2 seconds over Cyril Despres.
But it was not an easy day, as the MRW rider comments. A wide river that they had to cross, mud and some problems with the front brake of his bike complicated a lot today’s stage. Thanks to this result, Coma keeps the second position overall, 8 minutes and 10 seconds behind the French rider Despres.
His team mate at the MRW Red Bull AMV Team, Joan Pedrero, started from the sixteenth position and, with a great performance in the second half of the stage, progressively improved position as the kilometres passed. The MRW rider completed the day in sixth position, a result that allowed him to improve three places in the overall standings, where he is now eighth.
From Chilecito, the Dakar caravan will reach tomorrow the village of Fiambalá. A link of only 151 kilometres and a 265km timed kilometre stage form the shortest stage of the first half of the rally that, nevertheless, hides nearly 100 kilometres of dunes, which will greatly increase the difficulty of the stage.
Marc Coma
“As the kilometres went by, we found a stage that was increasingly difficult. The first part was fast and nice to ride, and we could try to get a good speed, but then the difficulty started to increase. We found a river with a lot of water, which made us suffer a lot.
Afterwards with the mud, as I started to have problems with the front brake. In the last few kilometres of the race the brake failed and I had to lower the pace, but I’m happy with this win, because to finish today was already a victory. We will keep working every day, fighting at each kilometre, and we will see, because today wasn’t easy for anyone. In such an extreme situation, any small problem can make a difference”.
Joan Pedrero
“My assessment of today’s stage is very positive, because I started very far behind because I stopped yesterday to help Cody and I had to start sixteenth. I was able to improve and I had a lot of fun, but it was a tough and complicated stage.
There was a lot of mud and places where the track was broken. Also, starting behind so many riders I had a lot of dust, but I finished sixth and I am very happy. The important thing is that I am setting a good pace and I ride more confidently reading the road book”.
