After Yesterday’s fateful round, the 2015 Dakar Rally was back in action today with Stage 4, Chilecito to Copiapo. The stage would lead the riders out of Argentina and into Chile, for the first time this rally raid.
A mixture of sand dunes, rocks, and high elevation, the day was the second longest overall (909km), but featured only a 315km timed special stage.
Answering yesterday’s KTM 1-2 victory, Honda’s Joan Barreda set out to maintain is top spot in The Dakar standings, though would have to contend with KTM’s Marc Coma, who stuck to him like glue once the two were riding together.
While Barreda’s lead over Coma was increased by a couple of minutes, Coma’s spot on the overall time sheets is now second, and well within striking distance of the HRC rider — especially with two marathon stages left to contend with.
A poor finish from Paulo Goncalves today, means all of Honda’s eggs are in Barreda’s basket, and so far the Spanish rider has performed as expected, riding a clean Dakar. With Coma only 12 minutes behind though, a single mistake could mean a swap in the leaderboard.
“This was an important day for me because it would have been easy to lose time in the last 100 km of deep sand and big dunes,” said Coma. I opened the road all day and I tried to make a high rhythm and to push to the maximum. I’m happy to arrive here with no mistakes and everything is getting better for me. We are now in the Atacama and I feel comfortable here.”
“I’m really pleased with today,” said Barreda. “It was a really fast special and we had to really concentrate hard. I looked up ahead and when I saw it was Marc and not Walker, I really floored it to not let him get away. Everything has worked out really well up until now. To keep up with Marc’s pace and even to take time off him is not easy. But we will continue to try and stay comfortably ahead and not take any chances.”
For KTM rider Sam Sunderland, the Stage 1 winner’s Dakar hopes have been dashed. Sunderland suffered a crash during the stage, hurting the soft tissue in his shoulder, and will have to sit out the rest of the rally raid.
Top 10 from Stage 4 – Chilecito to Copiapo – of the 2015 Dakar Rally:
| Pos. | Rider | Country | Brand | Time |
| 1 | BARREDA BORT | ESP | HONDA | 03:27:28 |
| 2 | COMA | ESP | KTM | +01:59 |
| 3 | QUINTANILLA | CHL | KTM | +02:49 |
| 4 | VILADOMS | ESP | KTM | +10:44 |
| 5 | FARIA | PRT | KTM | +10:55 |
| 6 | PIZZOLITO | ARG | HONDA | +11:29 |
| 7 | DUCLOS | FRA | SHERCO TVS | +12:51 |
| 8 | SANZ PLA-GIRIBERT | ESP | HONDA | +13:48 |
| 9 | SVITKO | SVK | KTM | +13:51 |
| 10 | METGE | FRA | YAMAHA | +14:32 |
Overall Top 10 of the 2015 Dakar Rally:
| Pos. | Rider | Country | Brand | Time |
| 1 | BARREDA BORT | ESP | HONDA | 13:10:33 |
| 2 | COMA | ESP | KTM | +12:49 |
| 3 | GONCALVES | PRT | HONDA | +20:29 |
| 4 | FARIA | PRT | KTM | +23:05 |
| 5 | VILADOMS | ESP | KTM | +24:51 |
| 6 | QUINTANILLA | CHL | KTM | +30:42 |
| 7 | PRICE | AUS | KTM | +32:05 |
| 8 | WALKNER | AUT | KTM | +33:28 |
| 9 | DUCLOS | FRA | SHERCO TVS | +36:31 |
| 10 | RODRIGUES | PRT | HONDA | +39:05 |
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