2015 Dakar Rally – Stage 2: Thinning the Herd

Hosting the second longest special stage of the 2015 Dakar Rally (518 miles), Stage 2 between Villa Carlos Paz and San Juan was especially grueling because of the added heat; and as such, The Dakar has already started to separate the top riders.

To that end, the HRC riders find themselves weighed and measured at the top, thus far. Joan Barreda rode to a solid stage win, and finishes the day with over a four-minute interval to his closest competitor.

“In the end we set off with a game-plan to not make any mistakes and arrive safely at the finish-line,” said Barreda. “The result has been amazing. In the first part, Sunderland and Coma pushed really hard and I overtook Paulo to try and stop them running away with the stage.

“In the end, it was more about survival than anything else. We had to measure the pace and keep focused on the navigation as there were some extremely tricky spots, plus another stretch towards the end, that really put a strain on the body,” he continued.

Where Barreda had fortune, Marc Coma did not, as the KTM rider had tire issues over the last 60 km of the stage. Instead of finishing close to Barreda, the Spaniard had to drop back, and finished the day eighth. The setback is not a Dakar-ender for Coma, who current sits sixth overall, thankfully, as he is only 12 minutes behind the overall leader.

“The (tire) mousse disintegrated in the last 60 km. A little earlier I know it was happening. I had to slow down a lot. For the last 60 km I could not go faster than 60 km/h. But after having reached the finish I consider myself lucky because we could have lost much more time. Obviously its not the result we wanted but it is still salvageable.”

Yamaha had another unfortunate day, with poor finishes from all of its factory-supported riders. Top rider Olivier Pain finished the day 17th, citing the intense heat and open course as his downfall — Pain, a veteran rally-raid rider, said his pace would be better in the technical course book stages.

Finishing the day just ahead of Pain were Yamaha Racing’s other riders Michael Metge (17th) and Alessandro Botturi (18th). The trio of riders are group together as well in the overall rankings.

On paper, tomorrow’s day into Chilecito looks easier. But knowing The Dakar, it will be anything but. Stay tuned.

Top 10 from Stage 2 – Villa Carlos Paz to San Juan – of the 2015 Dakar Rally:

Overall Top 10 of the 2015 Dakar Rally:

Source: Dakar; Photo: HRC