Dakar Rally Update: Coma extends lead

The fifth stage of the 2011 Dakar Rally has been run and just when we thought everything was falling into place, the race favourite has been stung with a 10 minute penalty.

French KTM factory rider Cyril Despres incurred a 10-miunte penalty in stage five after confusion over the changed starting time, which was moved forward by 15 minutes. As a result, Despres is now 10 mins 14 secs behind another KTM factory rider, Marc Coma from Spain.

The stage was won by Portuguese rider Paola Goncalves, on a BMW, with a time of 5hours 12mins 23secs, followed by Chilean Aprilia rider Francisco Lopez who was a little more than two minutes behind.

The fifth stage of the legendary Dakar Rally saw competitors spend an entire day navigating the unforgiving Atacama desert. The 425km stage that started off in rocky terrain and wound its way down to salt flats then on to the dunes of the Atacama, concluding with a steep descent to idyllic Iquique on the Pacific coast.

Three days ago Despres was leading the Dakar Rally, but remained surprisingly upbeat despite the massive 10 minute penalty, saying that he had an excellent day hammering through the dunes of the Atacama.

"I was told at half past four in the morning that I'd been given a penalty. I just forgot my thermal gloves, so I went back to get them and I didn't see that there were signposts I had to follow at the exit. Unfortunately for me, that's the race rules, but I've already forgotten about it after what I experienced today," said second-placed Despres.

The Frenchman described the stage as 425 km of navigation and pleasure: "This is why I race rally raids. We had to go looking for GPS coordinates that were genuinely like needles in haystacks. Forgetting about the time or penalties, the most important thing for me is to feel good and enjoy myself," added Despres.

Overall rally leader Marc Coma extended his lead from two seconds to 10mins 14secs, despite taking damage to his bike then later stopping to help a fallen comrade.

After his first fall Coma made repairs to the radiator: "I managed to repair it and carry on more or less as normal. After the refueling, I stopped for Olivier Pain who had just had a fall. He was unconscious, so I activated the alarm and stayed with him until my water carrier Joan Pedrero arrived. It was a genuine Dakar stage where all sorts of things happen," added the Spaniard.

As is the norm, race officials took Coma's stop to help the injured Pain into consideration and deducted and after the results were announced he was re-classified third for the stage, 1:40 behind the day's winner and therefore 12" in front of Despres. They later announced that Pain had a broken wrist and is out of the rally for this edition.

The Australian contingent of riders has been whittled down to three, after Mark Davidson withdrew. Jacob Smith (Honda) jumped two spots from 35th to 33rd, while Simon Pavey (BMW) leaped from 90th to 79th, and Warren Strange (Honda) also saw improved results rising from 94th to 83rd.

Stage six will take competitors from Iquique to Arica, on the border of Chile and Peru, another long stage (456km) peppered with treacherous sand dunes. Stage six is also expected to have a high rate of attrition, with competitors having to navigate dreaded fesh-fesh (or "Guadal" as the Chileans call it), which is super soft sand. It is then followed by the only rest day of the event.

General Standings after Stage 5

1. Marc Coma, Spain, KTM 16:59:33
2. Cyril Despres, Andorra, at 10:14
3. Francisco (Chaleco) Lopez, Chile, Aprilia, at 21:42
4. Paolo Goncalves, Portugal, BMW, 25:40
5. Helder Rodriguez, Portugal, Yamaha, at 32:05
6. Ruben Faria, Portugal, KTM at 35:14
7. Juan Pedrero, Spain, KTM at 40:01

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