When the twin-engine plane lands on the red ground strip, suddenly you discover major changes—all is different in comparison with the previous day. First the colors, red for the ground and green for the vegetation, but also people. Until in Mauritania and Mali, clothing was of the same tonality of the desert, yellow-beige and light brown. Here in Guinea people show incredible color variations and contrasts. People also show different enthusiasm and more happiness. That’s the apparent, various reality. Coming from the sky, the changes come all of a sudden, but for the competitors of today’s stage, they come slowly. But for all of them, these shifts also had a different meaning. They also brought on a new variety of difficulties to be faced.For example: Early morning Carlo De Gavardo went down in the water when crossing a river. The Chilean lost more than a half a hour in this singular misfortune, which would not have occured in Mauritania or Mali. Same story for Ullevalseter, and one hour is gone. Giovanni Sala, third overall, lost almost forty minutes to repair a bent brake disk. The 2006 Dakar is reaching the southern part of his road, running very near to the equator, three days to go, but the strain level is still high.The only task available for Cyril Depres was to attack. In fact, after the riders reached the border between Mali and Guinea and the special test started, the KTM Gauloises “boss” increased the pressure. Last year’s winner made the pass for first at both CP1 and CP2 but, due to the engaging navigation over too much dust, he did not distance his main rivals for more than two minutes. After 368 kilometres of special test, Despres was the winner, less than two minutes ahead of Marc Coma—less than three before Chris Blais. No big changes in the overall standings: Blais has moved up to fourth place and Marc Coma is still defending his leadership and feeling confident.Jean De Azevedo was second for a long time during the special test, confirming the special attitude of the Brazilian in this kind of terrain, so similar to those of South America, and finished the special test in a good fourth position. Red Bull KTM’s Chris Blais finished third overall, but in this case the exploit is simply due to the incredible progression of the American in this final part of the race. Thinking of De Azevedo, and having a look also to the exploits of Norwegian Pal Ullevalseter and Alain Duclos, maybe it is now time to remember that the three representative riders are part of the 62 people registered to the KTM Customer Rally Service Package in order to accede to the best racing formula for a private competitor.Rankings: Special: 368 kmStage Results:
1. Despres (Gauloises KTM)
2. Coma (Repsol KTM), + 01:45
3. Blais (Red Bull USA KTM), + 02:29
4. De Azevedo (KTM), + 03:01
5. Street (KTM), + 06:43
6. Rodrigues (YAMAHA), + 07:35
7. Viladoms (Repsol KTM), + 08:34
8. Goncalves (HONDA), + 11:51
9. Vinters (KTM), + 15:31
10. Fretigne (YAMAHA), +15:57
11. Duclos (KTM), + 22:27
12. Marchini (YAMAHA), + 22:47
13. AgraCarrera (YAMAHA), + 27:37
14. Verhoeven (YAMAHA), + 29:19
15. Gau (Gauloises KTM), + 30:40
16. Casteu (Gauloises KTM), + 31:31
17. Algay (YAMAHA), + 31:53
18. Czachor (KTM), + 32:52
19. Knuiman (YAMAHA), + 37:50
20. Rivera (HKTM), + 39:43
21. Sala (Repsol KTM), + 39:59
22. De Gavardo (Repsol KTM), + 44:48Overall Results:
1. Coma (Repsol KTM), 47:01:21 h
2. Despres (Gauloises KTM), 47:34:00 h, + 32:39
3. Sala (Repsol KTM), 48:46:36 h, + 01:45:15 h
4. Blais (Red Bull USA KTM), 49:08:11 h, + 02:06:50h
5. De Gavardo (Repsol KTM), 49:28:16 h, + 02:26:55 h, Penalty: 01.00:00 h
6. Duclos (KTM), 50:59:56 h, + 03:58:35 h
7. De Azevedo (KTM), 51:08:21 h, + 04:07:00 h
8. Rodrigues (YAMAHA), 51:13:49 h, + 04:12:28 h
9. Casteu (Gauloises KTM), 52:31:27 h, + 05:30:06 h
10. Vinters (KTM), 53:32:45 h, 06:31:24 h
11. Gau (Gauloises KTM), 54:07:47 h, + 07:06:26 h
12. Viladoms (Repsol KTM), 54:19:07 h, + 07:17:46 h, Penalty: 40:00
13. Farres Guell (YAMAHA), 54:21:49 h, + 07:20:28 h, Penalty: 30:00
14. Knuiman (YAMAHA), 54:28:16 h, + 07:26:55 h
15. Czachor (YAMAHA), 54:38:18 h, +07:36:57 h
16. Algay (YAMAHA), 54:45:01 h, + 07:43:40 h
17. Fretigne (YAMAHA), 55:44:18 h, + 08:42:57 h
18. Marchini (YAMAHA), 56:12:45 h, + 09:11:24 h, Penalty: 01:00:00h
19. Street (KTM), 56:29:43 h, + 09:28:22 h
20. Stanovnik (KTM), 57:14:40 h, + 10:13:19 h, Penalty: 30:00
1. Despres (Gauloises KTM)
2. Coma (Repsol KTM), + 01:45
3. Blais (Red Bull USA KTM), + 02:29
4. De Azevedo (KTM), + 03:01
5. Street (KTM), + 06:43
6. Rodrigues (YAMAHA), + 07:35
7. Viladoms (Repsol KTM), + 08:34
8. Goncalves (HONDA), + 11:51
9. Vinters (KTM), + 15:31
10. Fretigne (YAMAHA), +15:57
11. Duclos (KTM), + 22:27
12. Marchini (YAMAHA), + 22:47
13. AgraCarrera (YAMAHA), + 27:37
14. Verhoeven (YAMAHA), + 29:19
15. Gau (Gauloises KTM), + 30:40
16. Casteu (Gauloises KTM), + 31:31
17. Algay (YAMAHA), + 31:53
18. Czachor (KTM), + 32:52
19. Knuiman (YAMAHA), + 37:50
20. Rivera (HKTM), + 39:43
21. Sala (Repsol KTM), + 39:59
22. De Gavardo (Repsol KTM), + 44:48Overall Results:
1. Coma (Repsol KTM), 47:01:21 h
2. Despres (Gauloises KTM), 47:34:00 h, + 32:39
3. Sala (Repsol KTM), 48:46:36 h, + 01:45:15 h
4. Blais (Red Bull USA KTM), 49:08:11 h, + 02:06:50h
5. De Gavardo (Repsol KTM), 49:28:16 h, + 02:26:55 h, Penalty: 01.00:00 h
6. Duclos (KTM), 50:59:56 h, + 03:58:35 h
7. De Azevedo (KTM), 51:08:21 h, + 04:07:00 h
8. Rodrigues (YAMAHA), 51:13:49 h, + 04:12:28 h
9. Casteu (Gauloises KTM), 52:31:27 h, + 05:30:06 h
10. Vinters (KTM), 53:32:45 h, 06:31:24 h
11. Gau (Gauloises KTM), 54:07:47 h, + 07:06:26 h
12. Viladoms (Repsol KTM), 54:19:07 h, + 07:17:46 h, Penalty: 40:00
13. Farres Guell (YAMAHA), 54:21:49 h, + 07:20:28 h, Penalty: 30:00
14. Knuiman (YAMAHA), 54:28:16 h, + 07:26:55 h
15. Czachor (YAMAHA), 54:38:18 h, +07:36:57 h
16. Algay (YAMAHA), 54:45:01 h, + 07:43:40 h
17. Fretigne (YAMAHA), 55:44:18 h, + 08:42:57 h
18. Marchini (YAMAHA), 56:12:45 h, + 09:11:24 h, Penalty: 01:00:00h
19. Street (KTM), 56:29:43 h, + 09:28:22 h
20. Stanovnik (KTM), 57:14:40 h, + 10:13:19 h, Penalty: 30:00
