It was another victorious day for KTM rider Marc Coma. The Spaniard racked up his third victory, his second-consecutive win, over Stage 10 of the 2010 Dakar. In terrain similar to his home turf and training grounds in Catalonia, the reigning champ set the fastest time over the 148-mile special finishing 2:06 ahead of Yamaha’s David Fretigne.
KTM's Marc Coma nabbed victory in Stage 10, but the KTM rider is still deep in the overall standings.
At 7:15 a.m. today, 93 bikes set off with Coma the first to depart and current overall-leader Cyril Despres two minutes later. By the 26-mile mark, it was Helder Rodrigues on the smaller Yamaha who posted the best provisional time with Coma 45 seconds down.
As the riders reached the midpoint of the special, it was Coma who enjoyed the advantage over Rodrigues and KTM teammate, Ruben Faria. From there the Spaniard began opening up the window over the runner-up Yamaha pilot to almost a full minute. Stage 5 and 8 winner, Francisco Lopez Contardo, had moved up third, just 2:18 off Coma's pace and behind the Portuguese rider.
In the final 36 miles, Coma still retained the lead but the third-place player had changed. Fretigne had relieved Chaleco of his position and would finish in second, 2:06 behind Coma despite the 10-minute penalty handed to him yesterday. Rodrigues captured the third-spot, his second so far, 30 seconds later. With the win, Coma moves up another notch on the leader board to 17th overall.
Two-time title holder Despres opted to play it safe today and protect his lead, especially during the technical parts of the special. The Frenchman posted the sixth best time and boasts a 1:22:00 lead over Pal Anders Ullevalseter in second.
KTM pilot Jonah Street continues his consistent campaign. The American finished in ninth today, but retains the
Cyril Despres rode safely today to protect his first-place overall position. The Frenchman finished in sixth.
seventh-place spot overall. Street’s fellow US competitor, Ludovic Boinnard posted a time of 3:35:06, a difference of 24:23 off of Coma’s best.
The riders will return to Argentina tomorrow during Stage 11 with the first 31 miles climbing to over 11,483 feet. The mechanics will have their work cut out for them as they attempt to set the machines up for the drastic changes in altitude. Pilots will have to navigate a numbers of river crossings as they wind their way to the bivouac in San Juan.
Rider Quotes:
Marc Coma (ESP – KTM) 1st, 17th OA
“Now we’ve left the Atacama Desert behind us and we’re heading south. It’s a complete change of terrain. That was like a day of endurance riding. There was a lot of skidding, but it was technical and interesting. Every day, I try to show that I’m quick and comfortable on the tracks. I went looking for victory. I started first and opened the road for the whole stage. It’s hard. In fact it’s the hardest thing to do. And trying to claw back some time is difficult too. But we did it, so I’m happy, even proud – all thanks to the team.”
David Frétigné (FRA – Yamaha) 2nd, 6th OA
“I had a good day. It was a super special, the kind I like. There was lots of technical riding, skids, accelerations, steering… I got caught in a bit of dust at the start this morning, but I managed to overtake three or four bikes. It was tricky. Some of the bends were quite sharp and narrow, but I didn’t make any mistakes. I’m pleased with my performance today. A 450cc bike is agile and fun. On this type of special stage, you can express yourself and even enjoy yourself. Now, I can’t afford to make mistakes. I’ll have to ride as fast as possible. Today it wasn’t possible to gain back much time, but it would have been easy to lose some. However, I chose to attack to try and get a few minutes back, and I succeeded. It might not be much, but it’s already something. I’m climbing upwards and getting closer to the podium.”
Cyril Despres (FRA – KTM) 6th, 1st OA
“Today, we could have easily lost first place in the rally, so I protected my lead. That said, I wasn’t just taking it easy either. There were lots of slippy parts, bends with big drops on one side as well as stones on the tracks. For me, there was no need to go on all-out attack. We’re now on a different type of terrain with hard tracks that we have to adapt to. It’s completely different from the last three days. It’s a good mix.”
Stage 10 took riders away from the coast and wound up through the mountainous areas of Chile.
1. COMA (ESP) KTM 03:10:43 00:00:00
2. FRETIGNE (FRA) YAMAHA 03:12:49 00:02:06
3. RODRIGUES (PRT) YAMAHA 03:13:19 00:02:36
4. FARIA (PRT) KTM 03:14:39 00:03:56
5. LOPEZ CONTARDO (CHL) APRILIA 03:15:40 00:04:57
6. DESPRES (FRA) KTM 03:17:08 00:06:25
7. PAIN (FRA) YAMAHA 03:18:01 00:07:18
8. ULLEVALSETER (NOR) KTM 03:18:03 00:07:20
9. STREET (USA) KTM 03:18:04 00:07:21
10. DUCLOS (FRA) KTM 03:18:59 00:08:16
2010 Dakar Rally Overall Standings:
1. DESPRES (FRA) KTM 39:15:59 00:00:00
2. ULLEVALSETER (NOR) KTM 40:38:48 01:22:49
3. LOPEZ CONTARDO (CHL) APRILIA 40:40:06 01:24:07
4. RODRIGUES (PRT) YAMAHA 40:40:06 01:24:59
5. DUCLOS (FRA) KTM 41:13:34 01:57:35
6. FRETIGNE (FRA) YAMAHA 41:27:28 02:11:29
7. STREET (USA) KTM 41:56:12 02:40:13
8. PAIN (FRA) YAMAHA 42:03:00 02:47:01
9. PRZYGONSKI (POL) KTM 42:27:15 03:11:16
10. PEDRERO GARCIA (ESP) KTM 42:28:05 03:12:06
View the Stage 10 highlight video below courtesy of
Dakar.com
