2005 Dakar Rally Results Despres Dominates the Dunes in Stage Ten - News - Dirt Rider Magazine

Dakar 2005: Back in the Race!After a day off the race organization announced it would be a very tricky stage going up north to Atar and back again. Yet it almost looked like a walk in the park for young Cyril Despres. Taking off in seventh position this morning for the 483 km special, the Frenchman on his KTM 660cc stormed past all his rivals, clocking best times at CP1 (km 203) and CP2 (km 293) and negotiating the difficult dune portions in impressive manner. Always in the leading ten on all specials (including a second spot and three third positions), the KTM Gauloises rider clinched his first success on the 27th edition, his eighth overall.

"Ten years ago, I started riding just to enjoy these kind of stages. I really took a lot of pleasure today. The tracks varied with a lot of piloting, dunes, navigation and camel grass. I knew that the Dakar Rally will really start today, because on all the previous days it was simply impossible to make a difference. On this stage, I felt great at full speed. On the chott, I was maybe at 180 km/h, but I didn't follow any tracks, I rode on myself but caught Sala and Cox in the dunes. From that moment on, I rode as quickly as possible! At km 293, I overtook Meoni, then Esteve. Fabrizio told me that he would let me open the road, to have some competitors between us tomorrow. We had a laugh together, because in fact I finished second. I knew that I was going to manage a good operation for the overall standing, but really my first goal today was to take pleasure on the bike. That's what I did. Concerning the news about Jose Manuel Perez's death. It's very sad and I want to dedicate him my victory.After riding most of the day with Cox and Ullevalseter, Despres took off just before CP2 when the riding got tough. He eventually caught Meoni and Esteve and crossed the finish line with a huge 10'08" lead on the Italian and 12'24" on the Spaniard. Fourth on the day (after taking off in 15th spot) David Fretigne finished 12'51 adrift alongside Marc Coma (at 14'06) who ran out of fuel and lost precious time before CP2. In the top ten of the overall (6th), Norway's Pal-Anders Ullevalseter suffered a fall at km 410 and was forced to retire from the race with a shoulder injury.Despres grabbed the overall leadership for the second time (after Zouerat) but this time the 30-year-old biker has a significant 9'13" lead over Meoni. Third is now Marc Coma, over 16' adrift.Now it will be tough for Meoni to make up the time. He will have to catch and pass Despres, then the most difficult, pull away to make up any significant time. And he must do it soon as the stages of the rally are leaving the open deserts that favor Meoni's keen navigation skills.Meoni's take on the day : "I rode as hard as I could. But the problem is that I opened the way to Cyril Despres just behind me. So, he just had to follow my tracks, and joined me during refueling. After that, I was worried about the bib-mousse of my tires. So I let him overtake me, and tried to follow as I could. The problem is that it will be the same thing tomorrow, but without any other competitors between us.The Americans all has a solid day with Kellon Walch moving into 11th position overall with teammate Chris Blais sitting comfortably in tenth. Scot Harden is soldiering on with a very sore leg and staying close to the front of the pack.The next few days promise even more difficulties and we'll bring you as much as we can gather from the African deserts.The rest day report as reported by Team Red Bull KTM's Scot Harden:Surviving the next three days: That will be the key to making it all the way to Dakar. We've got big dunes to deal with and more camel grass, but all systems are go. Making it this far, in relatively good shape is a definite plus.The good news now is that it's first time in days that it hasn't been blowing sideways. It's a nice change and I can actually see more than a few feet. We've arranged to sleep in a 2-story villa during our stay here in Atar. The place is no palace but it's out of the wind. Like so many structures here, it's nice on the outside but pretty Spartan inside. I'm not complaining — it's great, particularly with the wind and blowing sand that we've had to live with. Plus it's very cold here in Atar right now. Since we arrived, a number of tourists have flown in for the Atar rest days. They're wandering around through the bivouac, snapping photos of the "circus". Of course, we are star performers!Having a place to rest during our layover day is important to me. I'm nursing a pulled groin that I suffered yesterday while ripping through a section. and it was all I could do to make it to the finish and climb off my bike. I was in pain throughout the day yesterday and into the night but I'm feeling a little better today. There are still three days of hard riding ahead and I'm prepared to gut it out!The bikes are great, the team is doing fantastic and in my opinion we could not have assembled a better, more compatible group of individiuals. As for Chris and Kellon, these kids have done very, very well and I am very proud of their efforts.-Scot Harden