BIKES News from stage 13 unfolded 18.01.2013: DAKAR 2013 - Argentina/Chile - January 13th, 2013 1st start (GMT-3) : 9:30 AM

DAKAR 2013   - Argentina/Chile - January 13th, 2013
1st start (GMT-3) : 9:30 AM

15:21 - bike
001 - Desprès under surveillance in the general standings

With a lead of 8'15" over Francisco Lopez, Cyril Despres is not a comfortable leader. All number of things could still happen tomorrow, even if we know that the Frenchman is capable of handling the situation.


14'41" behind his team leader, Ruben Faria is in third, ahead of Ivan Jakes, 24'45" behind Despres, and Juan Pedrero Garcia, 43'31" behind the Frenchman.


Olivier Pain occupies sixth place, 1:08'14" behind his countryman, and is under threat from Hélder Rodrigues, 1:14'56" behind the general standings leader.




13:48 - bike
014 - Duclos resumes the special

The French biker has stopped several times, building up a significant amount of time lost. At present, he has reached the 358-km point.

13:39 - bike
Top 5 complete at the finish

5'25" behind today's winner Francisco Lopez, Cyril Despres has finished second. Paulo Gonçalves occupies third place, 5'29" behind Chaleco, followed by Juan Pedrero Garcia, 7'42" behind the Chilean, and Joan Barreda, 8'24" behind the stage winner.

Olivier Pain, who was in a close fight for sixth place in the general standings with Frans Verhoeven, maintains his advantage seeing as he finished 8th almost 17 minutes ahead of the Dutchman.

13:07 - bike
001 - Despres still rally leader at the finish, but…

The Frenchman has finished this special 5'25" behind man of the day, Chilean Francisco "Chaleco" Lopez. The two men are now within touching distance in the general standings: the gap between Despres and Lopez has been cut down to 8'15".



12:59 - bike
007 - Chaleco eyes the lead at section 2 finish

Francisco Lopez was the first rider to cross the finishing line with a time of 3:44'54". He was followed by Joan Barreda, 8'24" behind, Helder Rodrgigues, 9'37" behind the Chilean, and most importantly Ruben Faria, 14'27" behind the provisional stage winner.


Lopez should therefore take over second place in the general standings with a lead of 6'26" over Faria. However, some of the leading riders are still out on the special, in particular Cyril Despres.


When they arrive, there will be a clearer picture of the stage's results.




12:41 - bike
014 - Duclos breaks down?

The French Sherco rider has been at a standstill, just before the 341-km point, for almost one hour. The bike and rider are just off to the side of the tracks in an earthy zone.



12:37 - bike
029 - Caselli in trouble

The leader of the bike special, American Kurt Caselli, has ground to a halt after 396 km, apparently due to engine problems.


12:28 - bike
001 - Despres responds to Chaleco

2'40" behind leader Kurt Caselli, Cyril Despres is third, 1'19" behind Francisco Lopez, his main rival in the general standings.


If the positions stay the same, this evening the two men will be in the same order in the general standings, with an advantage of slightly over 12 minutes for the Frenchman.

12:08 - bike
007 - Chaleco threatening Despres

The trend was emerging at previous time checks and is becoming all the more evident as the bikes reach the 359-km point:

Francisco Lopez, who currently occupies the best place, has regained more than 11 minutes on Ruben Faria and should therefore be in second place, on the coat tails of Cyril Despres, in the general standings this evening.

11:45 - bike
Start of the second section

The first bikers have set off on the second section of the special at 1.22 PM local time, led by Hélder Rodrigues.

10:40 - bike
029 - Caselli leads at the neutralised zone

The American is in the lead at the end of the first portion of the special, with a lead of 19 seconds over Cyril Despres and 42" over the third placed rider, Chilean Francisco Lopez.


Behind the trio, Juan Pedrero Garcia occupies fourth place, 1'49" off the lead, followed by Paulo Gonçalves in fifth, 2'17" off the lead, Hélder Rodrigues in sixth, 2'34" of the lead, and Ivan Jakes in seventh, 4'27" behind the current stage leader.



10:31 - bike
029 - Caselli leads at CP4

Whilst the first riders to set out today are arriving at the neutralised zone, Kurt Caselli has reached CP4 in the lead, 11 seconds ahead of Cyril Despres.



10:27 - bike
Chaleco on the attack at CP4

After 215 km, there is only a one second gap between Cyril Despres and Francisco Lopez, currently in first and second on the day's special, though Kurt Caselli has not yet reached the time check point…


10:19 - bike
029 - Caselli drops back slightly after 190 km

The gap between specials stage leader Cyril Despres and second placed Kurt Caselli is 1'37" now that the American has reached the time check point. Fourth placed Juan Pedrero Garcia trails Despres by 2'17", ahead of Olivier Pain, 2'57" off the lead, Paulo Gonçalves, 3'06" off the lead, and Ivan Jakes, 3'12" behind the leader.



09:57 - bike
001 - Despres raises the pace after 190 km

For the second time, Cyril Despres leads the special stage. The Frenchman took command after 163 km, ahead of American Kurt Caselli by a handful of seconds. Third place is occupied by his main rival in the general standings, Francisco Lopez; 2'09" behind

09:25 - bike
001 - Despres in cruise control at CP2

Riding with Ivan Jakes and Juan Pedrero Garcia, Cyril Despres is holding back a little after 153 km, where he occupies sixth place, 2'13" behind Joan Barreda.

Ruben Faria lies 1'17" behind the stage leader, Francisco Lopez trails Barreda by 1'30", whilst Frans Verhoeven and Kurt Caselli are both 1'31" behind the Spaniard, in joint fourth position.




09:09 - bike
Still Barreda at CP2

After 153 km, the Spaniard, also recorded in the lead after 123 km, is again out in front at CP2, with a lead of 1'17" over Ruben Faria and 1'32" over Frans Verhoeven.


Of course, the arrival of other competitors, in particular Cyril Despres, will give a clearer picture of the race order.

08:43 - bike
Despres second at CP1, Rogrigues leads the chase

Cyril Despres has just sneaked into the top 3 with the same time as his team-mate Ruben Faria, 15 seconds behind stage leader Joan Barreda.

In fifth place, Olivier Pain is 45" off the lead, Hélder Rodrigues is sixth, 1'04" off the lead, Kuba Przygonski is seventh, 1'10" off the lead and Francisco Lopez trails the stage leader by 1'16".



08:22 - bike
005 - Barreda leads at CP1

After 69 km, the Spaniard has taken the lead at the first check point with a time of 38'12", leading Portugal's Ruben Faria by 15” and Dutchman Frans Verhoeven by 21”. Only these three bikes have reached this point so far.




08:06 - bike
015 - Verhoeven starts the special

At 9.30 AM local time, Frans Verhoeven set the stopwatch ticking at the start of the 441-km long special stage, including a 61-km long neutralised zone (after 246 km). The second 134-km portion concludes the day's stage.




07:07 - bike
Further down the bike general standings?

Very, very far behind the official KTM riders, Peruvian Bruno Chichiloza is in last place in the general standings, trailing the leader by 36:48'46". A native of Arequipa, he has achieved the first of his goals: to complete his ‘home' stage (on day four of the rally), to say hello to his family and friends.


His second is to reach Santiago and finish his first attempt at the Dakar, which will be in the bag if he can make it until after tomorrow. For someone who started endurance racing at the age of 14, it's a real boyhood dream.



07:02 - bike
Behind the leaders in the bike category (cont.)

Where are the smallest gaps in the bike general standings after more than 7,000 kilometres of the Dakar? This morning, Joan Barreda occupies twentieth place in the general standings, 11 seconds behind Frenchman Michael Metge and his Yamaha, who again moved up a place yesterday and now finds himself in the top 20.


After his very fine performance on the Fiambala-Copiapo stage, Alain Duclos is now knocking on the door of the top 20. The gap is also very small in the fight for 22nd place between Felipe Prohens and Pablo Rodriguez. The two Honda riders are only separated by 12 seconds!



06:39 - bike
Behind the leaders in the bike category

The navigational errors made yesterday will perhaps have a big impact on the rally of Italian Alessandro Botturi who dropped from 7th to 12th place in the general standings yesterday evening, behind Paulo Gonçalvez.


Further than an hour and a half behind Cyril Despres, the two men, accompanied by Chilean Daniel Gouet (1:35'58" off the lead) and South African Riian Van Niekerk (1:41'44" off the lead), form a small group that is still capable of taking tenth place from Kuba Przygonski. A little more than just 10 minutes separates them.




06:34 - bike
015 - Verhoeven on ‘Ruta 5'

The Dutchman who won yesterday's stage set off along the Ruta 5 highway at 8.00 AM local time on the 90-km link stage leading to the start of the day's special. 127 bikes have been authorised to start.





16:57
Copiapo-La Serena: last of the dunes on the horizon

After a 90-km link stage, the 441-km of the special will not be a trivial matter. Plenty of surprises could still occur on the Dakar 2013. The start on the road section will be relatively late: the timetable takes account of the mercurial weather conditions in the area.


The "Camanchaca" hangs over the first part of the morning in general, so it will only be once this thick fog has dissipated that the first bikes will tackle the last dunes on the rally. The sandy part accounts for a third of the special's length. Thereafter, the rally will head south, on wide tracks which can sometimes hide rocks that can shatter dreams.


On the morning of this penultimate stage of the Dakar 2013, it can be considered that the situation is under control in the quad and car categories where Marcos Patronelli and Stéphane Peterhansel both boast comfortable leads. In the truck race, the three Kamaz leading the category could still witness attacks, even if overall victory seems to be within their grasp.


On two wheels, however, with five pilots within a bracket of one hour, everything is still mathematically possible, even though the impression is clearly advantageous to the official KTM riders.




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