Dakar Stage 6 – Thursday 7 January 2010 | Antofagasta > Iquique

Posted by Ray | 8 January 2010 | Comment

SERIOUS ACCIDENT ON STAGE 6, ANTOFAGASTA – IQUIQUE

Italian Luca Manca (n°31), riding a KTM, was a victim of a serious fall at km 10 of the special at around 9:00 AM (local time).
A helicopter of the organisation was close by and therefore the rider was immediately treated.

He was transferred by helicopter to the Del Cobre Hospital at Calama.
According to the doctors that treated him, Luca Manca suffers from a brain contusion and his life prognosis is engaged.
He will be transferred to the neuro-surgical service of the Clinica de la Mutual at Santiago.

Luca Manca was 9th of the bike overall classification this morning at the start. An experienced rider, he was taking part, at 29, to his very first Dakar rally. He had finished second of the Egypt rally back in October 2009.

Bike
Stage 6 summary
Pending validation by the race marshalls, Spanish rider Marc Coma (KTM) gets his second stage victory on this 32nd Dakar, his ninth in a Dakar. With a time of 4h46’59, the title holder arrived 10’34 before Frenchman Cyril Despres (KTM), and 10’38 before Portugal’s Helder Rodrigues (Yamaha)… In the standings, even if he says he won’t, Cyril Despres can now “manage” his lead which is now at 42’15 against Chile’s Lopez Contardo and 44’05 against Portugal’s Helder Rodrigues (Yamaha)… As for Marc Coma, he is ranking fourth but still 1h06’21 away from the leader.

Quad
Stage 6 summary
Pending validation by the race marshalls, Argentine rider Marcos Patronelli (Yamaha) gets his second consecutive stage victory on the 2010 Dakar by winning stage 6 of the 32nd Dakar. With a time of 5h58’50, the youngest of the Patronelli brothers arrived 18’10 ahead of his older brother Alejandro (Yamaha) and 25’27 ahead of his countryman Jorge Miguel Santamarina (Can-Am)… In the overall standings, Marcos Patronelli keeps growing the gap and is now in the lead 1h26’03 ahead of Santamarina and 1h53’51 ahead of Spaniard Juan Manuel Gonzalez Corominas (Yamaha).

Interviews
Marc Coma: “I’m staying motivated”
It was a tough stage. On km 29 there was a hidden way point. A lot of riders took it on the right, but with the dust and having left after the others, I really had a hard time. I kept a good pace. It was a very hard day actually. I think I must have passed quite a number of riders but there was so much dust… it was tricky. I am happy to have reached the finish without problems. I said I now wanted to win the day-to-day race after all the trouble I had and enjoy the race. Then we’ll see. Each day I’ll start the stage motivated. I don’t care about the others. I have to be realistic it is hard… even impossible almost. But it does not mean the raid is over and I can enjoy a vacation!

David Frétigné: “I will not give up”
On km 29, we had to enter a rio. Before that I went off-track several times. I was obviously in the wrong rio. I really got lost. I rode 7 or 8 km more and when I realized that my notes were wrong, I turned around and met all of them: Chaleco, Ullevalseter… Everyone had gone the wrong way. We had all taken the same track. They went one way and I went the other way. I wanted to take some time and check the roadbook. I found the track gack right after they did by the way. But at least I found it and I was in line with my notes. It was very important because I had a GPS point to catch. As soon as I could start my GPS I was able to get back on track. Then I was behind the others… in the dust but I went as fast as I could. I passed a few. I finish fourth today. It’s not bad. It’s damage control. Cyril (Despres) is riding smooth and easy now. All he has to do is control the situation. He is very very fast though. We are all trying so hard to catch up. But I will not give up. Everyday has new turns of events so I have to try and gain back some time and focus to go even faster. Today the end was spectacular. What an incredible dune slide! We had a great view of the finish line. The dune must have been 2 or 3 km long and at the bottom there were little ants waiting for us. It was like the endurance race of Le Touquet: full of banners and signs, full of supporters encouraging you… To take a dip like this one, you have to keep speeding so the front of the bike does not dig into the sand. You have to sit back, lean back and keep a little bit of torque and power to stay in motion. It is easier on the front of the bike that stays on course and stabilizes.

Cyril Despres: “Marc Coma is still my main contender”
It was a fairly trap-less stage even if it did not start too mal. This morning I felt sick to my stomac and the day felt like it was going to be complicated. But again, it was a stunning stage… just look at the finish with the big dune slide. Absolutely incredible! I forgot my hands were hurting and my butt too. I forgot all my aches. I saw Chaleco’s dust on km 25 at the first change in direction. He is from Chile, he won yesterday’s special stage and he’s home. He made a small mistake; that can happen to anyone. I stayed focused. The end of the stage was complicated because there were 30km of jumps. In the end it makes feel sick. It was almost like bobsleigh. 2’, 5’ or even 2hours, Marc Coma is still my main contender.

Tags: british, crash, dakar 2010, enduro, fim, france, french, honda, injury, kawasaki, ktm, suzuki, video, yamaha