Dhe sixth stage of the Dakar 2010, today led from Antofagosta to Iquique, the capital of the province of Tarapaca. In one of the longer specials of this edition, Marc Coma took the lead. The Spaniard could only finish as 19e begin. After some catching up in the opening phase, Coma appeared to be in the right rhythm.
Behind Coma, a number of top players made the mistake of trusting “local hero” Francisco Lopez in his knowledge of the area. The Aprilia rider made a navigation error and as a result, Pal-Anders Ullevalseter, Alain Duclos and David Fretigné were also involved. However, classification leader Cyril Despres plotted his own route, but still had to give up a 10-minute lead to Coma. However, upon his arrival in Iquique, Marc Coma received bad news. The Italian Luca Manca, who had helped Coma out yesterday by lending him a wheel, had a serious crash after 10 km in the special. The KTM rider reportedly suffered a skull fracture and is currently being kept in an artificial coma.
Henk Knuiman was the fastest among the Lowlanders today. He came in his 20se crossed the finish line 59min29 behind Coma. He went with Verhoeven (23e), Enthusiast (28e) and the Belgian Congolese Verhoestraete (29e) prior to.
Photo credit: J. Van Oers
The standings after stage 6:
1) Despres
2) Lopez Contardo at 42:15
3) Rodrigues 44:05
4) Coma 01:06:21
5) Ullevalseter 01:14:42
6) Duclos 01:21:56
7) Street 01:24:22
8) Fretigné 02:00:57
9) Jakes 02:07:39
10) Pain 02:08:46
20) Verhoestraete 04:35:55
The Dutch
34) Enthusiast 06:12:50
35) Knuiman 06:14:48
44) Vruggink 07:51:17
46) De Groot 07:57:51
49) Cutters 08:18:18
52) Pol 09:27:06
64) Verhoeven 15:24:04
