dakar 2006 stage ten

January 10, 2006

Stage 10 - Kiffa to Kayes
Connection  1 km
Special 283 km
Connection  49 km
Total  333 km

No Race For The Motorcycles Today

The tragedy has changed the race to a reflexive moment. Yesterday night the riders reached the bivouac of Kiffa in a silent way. No one of the competitors involved in the event wanted to hide his sad feeling. Andy Caldecott was an opponent, but first off all a friend, one of them. A clever fellow with an enormous passion. For all of them this passion is the main unstoppable engine. At the end of the day the main riders decided not to compete in the today's stage. The special test has been cancelled and all the 333 kilometres of the stage covered as in liaison.

"One stage always difficult", said Marc Coma. "Not because of the stress of the special stage, that was cancelled, but because all of us we have rode in a strange way, in the same time looking for the maximum of the concentration in order to avoid any risk, and thinking. I thought about thousand of things during the long liaison. I also decided how to face the next days. I will be calm, that's sure. Tomorrow the race will re-start, but I want to run it day by day with the maximum of the calm and the self control, staying clear from any impatience. Dakar is there, 3,000 kilometres far. Without hurry."

The race has already covered 2/3 of this mileage, and the convoy has left the desert of the Mauritania and reached the Mali. A new Country and different landscapes, with different tracks. Now the riders will encounter the savannah, with his sparse vegetation, his wild beasts crossing, many villages and populations, and thousand of tracks, almost all more or less bringing to the same direction. A demanding navigation, and a great attention to be paid in order to maintain the right way.

In the meanwhile the stage between Nouakchott and Kiffa had a long tail. Last night almost 80 riders was signalled trying to reach the finish of the special stage. This morning a strange situation: the final check point of the previous stage was also the first of the today's cancelled stage. For most of those riders it will be a double non stop stage to Bamako, Mali.

Rankings: 10th stage: Kiffa > Kayes Special: 283 km

neutralise

Rankings: 9th stage: Nouakchott> Kiffa
Special: 599 km Stage Results:
1. Despres (Gauloises KTM), 07:55:48 h
2. Coma (Repsol KTM), + 04:07
3. Rodrigues (YAMAHA), + 07:00
4. Sala (Repsol KTM), + 12:43
5. Ullevalseter (KTM), + 19:36
6. Viladoms (Repsol KTM), + 23:10
7. De Gavardo (Repsol KTM), + 27:33
8. De Azevedo (KTM), + 33:35
9. Blais (Red Bull USA KTM), + 34:40
10. Goncalves (HONDA), + 36:30
11. Bethys (HONDA), + 52:54
12. Duclos (KTM), + 01:00:37 h
13. Farres Guell (YAMAHA), + 01:04:06 h
14. Gau (Gauloises KTM), + 01:05:39 h
15. Croquelois (YAMAHA), + 01:08:35 h
16. Oosting (YAMAHA), + 01:10:15 h
17. Knuiman (YAMAHA), + 01:14:32 h
18. Czachor (KTM), + 01:23:28 h
19. Algay (YAMAHA), + 01:24:10 h
20. Lepan (KTM), + 01:26:55 h 32. Casteu (Gauloises KTM), + 02:18:57 h

Overall Results:
1. Coma (Repsol KTM), 38:49:15 h
2. Despres (Gauloises KTM), 39:12:02 h, + 22:47
3. Sala (Repsol KTM), 39:42:19 h, + 53:04
4. Ullevalseter (KTM), 40:16:57 h, + 01:27:42 h
5. De Gavardo (Repsol KTM), 40:24:30 h, + 01:35:15 h, Penalty: 01.00:00 h
6. Blais (Red Bull USA KTM), 40:48:24 h, + 01:59:09 h
7. Casteu (Gauloises KTM), 42:25:21 h, + 03:36:06 h
8. Duclos (KTM), 42:28:35 h, + 03:39:20 h
9. Rodrigues (YAMAHA), 42:43:42 h, + 03:54:27 h
10. De Azevedo (KTM), 42:46:50 h,+ 03:57:35 h
11. Bethys (HONDA), 43:26:57 h, +04:37:42 h
12. Knuiman (YAMAHA), 44:45:05 h, 05:55:50 h
13. Gau (Gauloises KTM), 44:51:28 h, + 06:02:13 h
14. Farres Guell (YAMAHA), 44:54:26 h, + 06:05:11 h, Penalty: 30:00
15. Vinters (KTM), 44:57:36 h, 06:08:21 h
16. Algay (YAMAHA), 45:05:56 h, +06:16:41 h
17. Czachor (YAMAHA), 45:33:46 h, +06:44:31 h
18. Viladoms (Repsol KTM), 46:09:16 h, + 07:20:01 h, Penalty: 40:00
19. Fretigne (YAMAHA), 46:56:09 h, + 08:06:54 h
20. Lepan (KTM), 47:05:33 h, 08:16:18 h ...