Pic: ASO DPPI
moving higher (2,000 metres) in the Cobrepampa region,
where fiendish navigation put pay to the hopes of Barre-
da Bort. Later, sections of fesh-fesh put handling skills
to the test in the third part of the stage, which alternated
between fast stretches and the Acarí dunes.
Xavier de Soultrait beat the odds after two difficult days
and turned the tribulations of his adversaries to his ad-
vantage in a masterful performance during the diabolical
stage. The Yamaha rider defeated Quintanilla by a whis-
ker to claim his first Dakar stage win, with the Chilean
taking the overall lead by a comfortable margin.
"It was a really tricky stage today,” Quintanilla claimed.
“When we started in the morning it was really foggy. I
slowed down a little bit in the tricky parts and I focused
on maintaining the correct heading and going the correct
way to find the waypoints. It looks like I did quite a good
stage. Before the refuelling I was in front and after that I
chose to go without taking many risks and really focused
on the road book for navigation."
In a crushing blow Barreda Bort added calamity to his
stash of Dakar experiences. He’s previously suffered in-
juries, mechanical problems and critical navigational er-
rors, but this time he encountered an entirely different
setback at the 143 kilometre mark.
The Spaniard plunged down a steep descent, only to be-
come stuck at the bottom of a basin and then unable to get
his Honda out. After searching in vain for a way out, the
overall leader gave up and called for a helicopter to evac-
uate him. It is the fourth time in nine Dakar starts that he
has failed to finish the rally.
With tears welling Barreda Bort explained, "I'm very
disappointed. I got off to a great start, feeling strong, at-
tacking and catching up with the riders in front of me. I
got to a summit where it was really foggy. There was no
visibility and I went down the wrong descent. It was ex-
tremely slippery, it was impossible for me to get back up.”
The ingredients for the first part (stage 4) of the mar-
athon stage set the tone of the challenge. On leaving the
White City, a small zone of dunes challenged the riders
who quickly understood that the day would be a difficult
one: fesh-fesh wears down nerves and machinery and
there was plenty of it throughout the stage.
In some places, especially alongside the Rio Tambo to-
wards the end of the first 200 kilometres, the tracks be-
came rather rocky. However, once they had come off the
high plateau of the Pampa de la Clemesí, they again had
to deal with the fine, untameable dust. The final straight
between the port of Ilo and Moquegua gave some sort
of comfort for competitors, especially those who like to
have fun with the trajectories that they take … but only on
TRAVERSE 14