Dakar stage nine: Despres in rare form

KTM king pin Cyril Despres put in a magnificent ride in stage nine of the 2013 Dakar Rally on January 14 when it resumed for the second half of this year’s edition. The reigning title holder won the stage and moved into second overall, while his factory teammate Ruben Faria of Portugal took control of the overall lead.

Despres put mixed fortunes of previous days behind him and finished the stage in five hours, 41 minutes and 36 seconds (5.41:36) 3:21 ahead of Joan Barreda (Husqvarna), with Alessandro Botturi (Husqvarna, 3:51) in third. Todd Smith (Honda, 27:29) was the leading Australian in 17th.

With Faria in the lead, Despres now has a fighting chance of defending his title with a deficit of 5:23 and many kilometres to go before the finish in Santiago on January 19.

“It was a good day with lots of attacking and lots of turns,” said Despres. “I knew that it would be physically demanding and that I'd have to give it my all. I've got blisters on my feet and my hands are sore, but I had to bang my fist on the table to say ‘Hey, I'm here!’. Ruben and I are racing well for the team; he's in good shape and that's the most important thing right now.”

Meanwhile, Francesco Lopez is currently third overall on his KTM, 9:03 behind Despres, with Rod Faggotter (Yamaha) the leading Aussie in 16th, ahead of Ben Grabham (KTM, 18th) and Scott Strange (Honda) in 31st.

Stage 10 of the Dakar takes riders from Cordoba to La Rioja over a distance of 636km, of which 357km is timed.

For full results and standings, visit www.dakar.com/index_DAKus.html.