Barreda takes charge, Price shines in top five position
Australian climbs the leaderboard on debut at Dakar during stage two.
Source: KTM.
A steady fourth place on a quick first stage where there was more to lose than to win, Joan Barreda got the show on the road today during the first major special stage of the Dakar with an imposing victory.
Meanwhile, opening day pace-setter Sam Sunderland experienced disillusion by getting lost for a very long time 70km from the finish.
Already a 10 times stage winner on the Dakar, Barreda has had to content himself so far with a seventh final position as his personal best, which can be qualified as a disappointment for the Spaniard who appears to be determined to do his utmost for victory in 2015.
This goal is perfectly within his reach, since the Honda rider continued his collaboration with HRC with a victory on the second stage of the rally between Villa Carlos Paz and San Juan.
Battling with Marc Coma and Sunderland all along the 518km special, Barreda finally benefited from his rivals’ problems at the end of the stage.
Coma suffered problems with his tyres and had to ease off the pace over the last 60 kilometres to make sure he reached the finish, while Sunderland got lost for up to two hours whilst trying to find the right track and can more or less kiss goodbye to his ambitions in the general standings.
Paulo Gonçalves came up trumps again with another second place that allows him to consolidate his second place in the general standings, though today he did lose six minutes to Barreda.
In third place, nine minutes behind, Ruben Faria achieved the performance of the day on completion of a very physically demanding stage, only two months after an operation on a broken collarbone.
Faria beat Jordi Viladoms by four seconds, while debutants Toby Price (9m42s behind the leader) and Matthias Walkner made a big impression by taking fifth and sixth place at the finishing line.
Price’s performance was particularly impressive as he continues to pick up navigation-type racing, continuing to rank as top of the Aussies with Simon Pavey 82nd, Llewellyn Sullivan-Pavey 83rd and Clayton Jacobsen yet to display on the official results sheet.
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