Dakar stage 9: Seconds sprint in favor of Coma
The battle for the overall victory between Despres and Coma was already shortened this weekend by the Spaniard's time penalty. However, the battle for the day's victories between the two KTM tenors continues as usual. At the end of today's ride, Coma had 4 (!) seconds left over Cyril Despres. The ninth stage from Coplapo to La Serena was shortened to 170 km, but with a joint (launched) start of the 10 best motorcyclists, this ride offered plenty of spectacle. Despite the joint start, the 450cc engines could not compete with the violence of the KTMs. Aprilia rider Contrardo Lopez was third overall and first 450 rider.
In the second group of 20 starters, none other than Franske Verhoeven took the holeshot on his Beemer! Verhoeven even took the lead for a while and again delivered a strong performance against all the official violence. Unfortunately, Frans falls 19 seconds short of Faria for the coveted top ten finish! The Dutch generally did well in this cross test (sand!): Knuiman finished 14de, Hans Jos Liefhebber 17de. As a result, Liefhebber even rose 5 places in the standings.
Photo credit: J. Van Oers
Dakar standings after nine stages
1) Despres
2) Wool roller seats 01:21'50”
3) Lopez Contardo 01:25'31"
4) Rodrigues 01:28'44”
5) Duclos 01:55'40”
6) Fretigné 02:05’44”
7) Street 02:39’13”
8) Pain 02:46’04”
9) Berglund 02:59’06”
10) Pedrero Garcia 03:06'12"
19) Verhoestraete 07:15'22”
The Dutch
20) Knuiman 7:35'52”
25) Enthusiast 09:08’41”
44) De Groot 13:05'13”
46) Vruggink 14:25'16”
48) Snijders 14:38'45”
55) Verhoeven 16:31′17″
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