Target Santiago

2013-01-18 22:29
SS13 Copiapo – La Serena 90 km liaison - 441 km special - 204 km liaison

From the Atacama desert to La Serena on the Pacific coast, the rally is heading down to Santiago where tomorrow the Chilean capital will celebrate the protagonists of the 2013 Dakar.

Because of the “camanchaca”, the fog that characterises this region, riders set off very late for this stage, normally starting around 04:00 am, the first bikes today started at 08:00 for the last dunes of the rally.

Tough right until the end, today’s 441-km long special was split into 2 timed sections: dunes for the first part followed by a faster special on stony terrain. With 13 hard stages and 7,794 km behind them, navigation as well as concentration were the key points of this stage, the riders had to attack to gain positions but also to preserve the bike aiming for tomorrow’s final stage.

Team HRC Riders Helder Rodrigues rode with a consistent pace finishing 6th, 09’37” behind Chilean Chaleco Lopez, who won today’s stage ahead of Despres (+05’25”) and Goncalves with Javier Pizzolito 11th and Johnny Campbell, 33rd. Despres is leading the general classification while Rodrigues and Pizzolito sit in the top 10, in 7th and 8th place respectively.

Helder Rodrigues, SS13 6th +9’37, 7th overall: It was a good day for me, the stage was fast and focused on navigation. I started 5th and recovered a lot of the positions in the first sandy special. I started in front in the second timed section and I continued pushing but I hesitated at km 410 and Chaleco overtook me. All In all, I’m happy with this stage and I look forward to the final day.”

Javier Pizzolito, SS13 11th +12’28, 8th overall: “It was a tough stage. We are tired from 13 hard stages and today I struggled a bit to maintain the concentration. Moreover, it was a 441-km long stage and it was very tiring for the body. I look forward to tomorrow final stage”.

Johnny Campbell SS13 33rd +38’10” 40th overall: “It was a long stage. I struggled in the dunes as I have not recovered from the injuries of the last days and I preferred to ride conservatively. I enjoyed the second special on hard pack as this kind of terrain is less tiring for my body. With one more stage to go, we are getting closer to the end of the rally, the target is Santiago”.

SS13 Unoffcial Results 1.Lopez (KTM) 2. Despres (KTM) +5’25” 3. Goncalves (Husqvarna) 4.Pedrero (KTM) +7’42” 5 Barreda (Husqvarna) +8’24” 6. Helder Rodrigues Team HRC (Honda) +9’37”, 11. Javier Pizzolito Team HRC (Honda) +12’28”, 33. Johnny Campbell Team HRC (Honda) +38’10

Overall results 1. Despres (KTM) 2. Lopez (KTM) +8’15” 3.Faria (KTM) + 14’41” 4.Jakes (KTM) +24’45” 5. Pedrero (KTM) +43’31”… 7. Helder Rodrigues Team HRC (Honda) +1h14’56”, 8. Javier Pizzolito Team HRC (Honda) +1h26’23”, 40. Johnny Campbell Team HRC (Honda) +8h10’06”

Source: Team HRC

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