Dakar 2013: Chaleco López takes the sixth stage

Chaleco López, by setting a strong pace and taking advantage of the puncture suffered by the Portuguese rider Gonçalves, claims victory in the sixth stage of the Dakar Rally and moves closer to the lead, which Frenchman Olivier Pain of Yamaha continues to hold. Joan Pedrero, in ninth place, has been the best of the Spanish riders. In the Quads class, Casale managed to halt the momentum of Marcos Patronelli and takes the stage, but the Argentine remains the clear leader overall.

By Rubén Herrera10 January 2013 · 3 min read

As every year, consistency is becoming the most important trend of the Rally. Without Marc Coma’s participation, we all expected Cyril Despres to stand out early in the standings but, quite the opposite, the French rider has yet to win a single stage. Today the fastest was the Chilean Chaleco López who, through fighting spirit and determination, is steadily making up the minutes he lost on the second day.

The stage was initially dominated by fellow Chilean Esquerre, followed by more than a minute behind by Caselli, who would go on to take first place after passing WP2. But from there, the lead was taken, firmly, by Gonçalves and his Honda pata negra. However, the Portuguese rider stopped at kilometre 333 (possible puncture) and unfortunately bid farewell to the stage victory. Chaleco López took advantage of the problem affecting the rider of Honda and took the lead, crossing the finish line 2:34 ahead of Rubén Faria.

Just behind, in third position, came Cyril Despres. The Frenchman is riding a “calm” rally, without rushing, knowing that the best way to win now that Coma is absent is to avoid damaging his KTM too much and not losing too much time, so that he can give everything in the final stages. His teammate and Coma’s replacement, Caselli, finished fourth, while the Italian Butturi was fifth.

Jordi Viladoms was becoming our best hope after yesterday’s problem for Barreda. Today he was losing only about five minutes before reaching WP7 but, with no apparent problem, began losing time from that point on, crossing the finish line 37:21 minutes behind the leader… A real shame. Joan Pedrero was the best-placed Spaniard, arriving in ninth place 7:22 behind, just ahead of Olivier Pain, who has conceded as much as 7:33 minutes.

Despite this, he remains leader of the Rally, although his advantage has now been reduced to 2:22 minutes. David Casteu completes the French triple among the front runners, sitting 4:48 behind his teammate in the overall standings. The best-placed Spaniard overall is now Joan Pedrero, who is 33:55 behind; there is little time left to see what remains of the Rally and the many things that are happening. Viladoms, meanwhile, is already 43:24 behind. The 33rd overall position of Laia Sanz is very noteworthy, one hour and 57 minutes behind Pain.

Stage times – Overall standings

Quads: Casale neutralises Patronelli

The Chilean Casale is not ready to say goodbye to the Dakar so soon. He is the only rider who, despite being 1:11:56 behind overall, still has a chance of winning ahead of Patronelli, as the third-placed Pole Sonik is 1:48 back. Today he secured the stage victory with a 6:36-minute advantage over the Argentine, who is surely managing his large lead; a single mistake could cost him dearly.

Stage times – Overall standings

Via | Plusmoto