Dakar stage three: Despres takes lead
The defending champion has made his move, and is now at the front of the pack on his factory KTM, while Rod Faggotter is the leading Australian in 20th positionReigning title holder Cyril Despres (KTM) has vaulted from fifth into first position in the 2013 Dakar Rally after finishing third in stage three on January 7.
Despres, going for his fifth Dakar title, now holds a two minute 51 second (2.51) lead over Chaleco Lopez, with the evergreen Pal-Anders Ullevalseter of Norway (4.59) making it three KTMs in the top spots.
Lopez made a big charge from back in the field to win stage three ahead of Paolo Goncalves (Husqvarna) and Despres. The route took riders over some of the most spectacular sections of the desert of southern Peru, with plenty of soft sand and unpredictable dunes on the menu -- living up to the organiser’s promise that the opening stages of this over 8000km marathon would be very tough.
Rod Faggotter (Yamaha) and Todd Smith (Honda) were the fastest Australians in stage three, finishing 18th and 19th, with Ben Grabham (KTM, 36th) and Matt Fish (Husqvarna, 40th) next in line. In stage two, Fish became the first Australian to finish a stage in the top three since the late Andy Caldecott in 2006.
In the overall standings, Faggotter is 20th, 20.53 in arrears, followed by Smith (24th, 23.14), Fish (31st, 26.12), Grabham (32nd, 28.45) and Honda’s Warren Strange (33rd, 33.35).
Stage four takes riders from Nazca to Arequipa for a total distance of 343km, 243km of which is another difficult timed section.
For full results and standings in the 2013 Dakar, visit www.dakar.com/index_DAKus.htmlv.
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