Dhe rest day is within reach, but that was not yet noticeable today. Cyril Despres wins the seventh stage and remains at the head of the intermediate standings, but Marc Coma makes himself heard and profiles himself as the most formidable opponent.
Despres and Coma were the first to start this ride and experienced firsthand that this is not always an advantage. The stage with a special of no less than 600 km with mixed terrain ensured that both Dakar winners could not set a pace. This benefited the pursuers and they were gradually able to keep up. The Norwegian Pal Anders Ullevalseter was the first to pass checkpoints 1 and 2, Frétigné was the fastest at checkpoint 4 and it was the Chilean Lopez who arrived first at CP 5 and 6.
However, the race was only decided in the last 150 km where the experience of Messrs. Despres and Coma clearly paid off. The latter briefly took the lead in the last 20 km before the finish line, but that was short-lived. Despres, with a broken shock absorber, showed his skills and made a strong final sprint in what was a 22th resulted in a stage victory. Coma follows in the standings at 1h06 min, which is good for second place for the Portuguese Helder Rodriguez.
Dutchman Knuiman finishes just outside the top 10 in twelfth place. Frans Verhoeven drives his BMW like 15de over the measure. Many participants arrived late today.
Text: Bram Deboutte
Photo credit: J. Van Oers
The standings after stage 7:
1) Despres
2) Coma at 1:06’50”
3) Rodrigues 1:20'08”
4) Ullevalseter 01:06'21”
5) Lopez Contardo 01:14'42”
6) Duclos 01:50'06”
7) Fretigné 02:05'57”
8) Street 02:05'57”
8) Fretigné 02:06'28”
9) Pedrero Garcia 02:25'43”
10) Pellicer 02:26'22”
19) Verhoestraete 05:50'13”
The Dutch
22) Knuiman 6:44'54”
29) Enthusiast 07:31’17”
45) De Groot 10:15'19”
48) Vruggink 10:49'20”
50) Snijders 11:10'12”
59) Verhoeven 16:05'04”
