Juan Pedrero of Spain earned his first career Dakar Rally stage win today in Argentina, while defending motorcycle champion Cyril Despres suffered a devastating setback.
Sherco rider Juan Pedrero of Spain scored his maiden Dakar stage victory during Stage 4 of the Dakar Rally today, which ran from San Juan to Chilecito in Argentina. Pedrero also snapped HRC Honda’s string of three consecutive stage wins in the 2014 Dakar.
While Pedrero may not be a familiar name among the top contenders, he is a former support rider to Marc Coma on the KTM team, and while he chased another factory KTM rider all day, Francisco “Chaleco” Lopez, Pedrero finished with a Stage-best time of 5 hours, 29 minutes and 13 seconds, 29 seconds faster than Lopez, who finished ahead of him on the road.
That Lopez missed out on a 12th career stage win today is rather surprising, as the Chilean rider was fast all day during part two of this marathon stage for the motorcycles. Lopez led the bike field–now down to 146 riders from the original 175 starters—through every checkpoint in the stage. While his efforts didn’t earn him a stage win, they did allow him to gain lots of time on overall leader Joan Barreda.
Barreda has his share of difficulties today, losing critical time due to a navigation error. The Spaniard made the necessary corrections and pushed hard to the finish, posting a time of 5:43:09 that was still good enough for sixth in the stage, but his overall lead is now tenuous at best. He holds a 3-minute and 10-second advantage over KTM’s Marc Coma, who rode like the rally master that he is and finished third today with a time of 5:32:23.
Stage 4 of the 2014 Dakar Rally may be the day that defending motorcycle champion looks back on woefully as the day that cost him his chance at another overall motorcycle victory. All was going to plan for the the French factory Yamaha rider when his engine stopped just 12 kilometers from the finish, Despres was able to complete the stage in 16th position with a time of 6:11:22 but now finds himself 41 minutes behind Barreda. However, rally insiders have learned never to count out Despres, who has earned a reputation for being a threat to the finish regardless of his circumstances, but the engine failure has put him in a tough predicament.
But at least Despres is still in the hunt, unlike stage 2 winner Sam Sunderland, who is out of the rally after suffering an engine failure on his HRC Honda.
Stage 5 from Chilecito to Tucuman will mark the longest stage of the 2014 Dakar Rally, and it will feature a return to a shared route among all of the classes in the rally, with 384 kilometers of transfer sections and a massive 527-kilometer special test that mostly be composed of sand. Tomorrow may really separate the contenders from the pretenders.
Dakar Rally
Stage 4
San Juan-Chilecito, Argentina
Results: January 8, 2014
1. Juan Pedrero-She/05:29:13
2. Francisco Lopez-KTM/+00:00:29
3. Marc Coma-KTM/+00:03:10
4. Jeremias Israel-Spe/+00:06:30
5. Olivier Pain-Yam/+00:07:01
6. Joan Barreda-Hon/+00:13:56
7. Paulo Goncalves-Hon/+00:18:38
8. Ivan Jakes-KTM/+00:19:30
9. Alain Duclos-She/+00:23:13
10. Jordi Viladoms-KTM/+00:28:37
Dakar Rally Standings (After Stage 4 of 13)
1. Joan Barreda-Hon/15:39:53
2. Marc Coma-KTM/+00/03:10
3. Francisco Lopez-KTM/+00:05:12
4. Alain Duclos-She/+00:25:55
5. Olivier Pain-Yam/+00:29:38
6. Cyril Despres-Yam/+00:41:17
7. David Casteu-KTM/+00:41:17
8. Jeremias Israel-Spe/+00:46:33
9. Jordi Viladom-KTM/+00:49:14
10. Kuba Pryzgonski-KTM/+00:54:52
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