Barreda 5th & Rodrigues 6th for Team HRC in Stage 11, Longest Day of the Dakar Rally

Dakar 2014

Stage 11

16/01/2014

TEAM HRC riders overcome long Dakar stage and maintain positions

After this, the eleventh and longest stage so far in this edition of the Rally Dakar 2014, Joan Barreda crossed the El Salvador finish-line in fifth and Hélder Rodrigues in sixth position.

It was Joan Barreda, who started out first today from Antofagasta, as the winner of yesterday’s stage. After completing the 144 km liaison he set of to tackle the 605 km special against the clock, the longest to date in the Dakar 2014. The eleventh stage covered a variety of terrain, hard ground, mountains, plus 120 km of sand and dunes in the Copiapo area.

Joan Barreda fell about halfway through the special in the fesh-fesh zone, damaging the navigation system of his Honda CRF450 RALLY in the process. Without the road-book, the Spaniard was forced to wait for the other riders to be able to make it to the end of the stage. Barreda finished fifth and maintains second position in the overall.

Portuguese Hélder Rodrigues was enjoying a good run until a problem with one of the petrol tanks arose. At refuelling he made an attempt to repair the tanks, refilled, and was able to finish the rally without conceding much time to his adversaries in the battle for the third podium step.

After yesterday’s eighth place, Javier Pizzolito finished further back after he hit a rock and damaged the bike’s rear wheel suspension.

Laia Sanz, made a decided effort to improve on her previous position, after a less positive day out yesterday. Today the Spanish rider never dropped below fifteenth place where she finally finished. Her team-mate from the Honda Argentina Rally Team, Pablo Gonzalez finished the special in the top forty.

 
Video Stage 10                              Behind the Scenes 10

Joan Barreda       5th       08'12       TEAM HRC

Today was one of the most important days with a lot of timed kilometres. I really tried, pushing hard from the beginning, but about 300 km into the race I had a heavy fall in the fesh-fesh zone and I broke the navigation system. I waited for Cyril [Despres] who was about six minutes behind and I stuck with him until the end of the special. I’m happy that we’ve got this difficult stage out of the way and we are a bit closer to the end.

Helder Rodrigues       6th       +09'23       TEAM HRC
I’m pleased to be here at the finish. I had a problem with the fuel tank at km 100 and I tried to fix it, but it was really hard to mend and then the problem came back again. I tried to finish by filling the tank to the top and that way I was able to make it home. With a problem like that I could have finished way back, but here I am, and I’m fine.

Javier Pizzolito       18th       +35'47       TEAM HRC
The longest stage has finished and here I am, back at the bivouac in El Salvador, which is great. It was mainly rocky ground today with a lot of off-road. I started out well, but felt a blow at the back and the rear suspension stopped working properly. We’ll find out what caused it tomorrow and then tackle the rest of the race.

Classification Stage 11

1	Marc Coma	6:36'08	ESP	KTM	KTM Red Bull Rally Factory
2	Cyril Despres	+02'51	FRA	YAMAHA	Yamaha Racing
3	Olivier Pain	+05'28	FRA	YAMAHA	Yamaha Racing
4	Jordi Viladoms	+05'53	ESP	KTM	KTM Red Bull Rally Factory
5	Joan Barreda	+08'12	ESP	HONDA	TEAM HRC
6	Helder Rodrigues	+09'23	POR	HONDA	TEAM HRC
7	Joan Pedrero	+09'50	ESP	SHERCO	Sherco Rally Factory
8	Stefan Svitko	+13'25	SLO	KTM	Oraving Slovnaft Team
9	Kuba Przygonski	+14'40	POL	KTM	KTM Rally Factory
10	Ivan Jakes	+14'47	SLO	KTM	Nad Ress Adventure

General standings after Stage 11

1	Marc Coma	48:24'41	ESP	KTM	KTM Red Bull Rally Factory
2	Joan Barreda	+52'36	ESP	HONDA	TEAM HRC
3	Jordi Viladoms	+02:07'56	ESP	KTM	KTM Red Bull Rally Factory
4	Olivier Pain	+02:21'40	FRA	YAMAHA	Yamaha Racing
5	Helder Rodrigues	+02:30'35	POR	HONDA	TEAM HRC
6	Cyril Despres	+02:31'18	FRA	YAMAHA	Yamaha Racing
7	Kuba Przygonski	+02:43'55	POL	KTM	KTM Rally Factory
8	Daniel Gouet	+03:24'35	CHI	HONDA	Tamarugal Honda Racing XC Rally Team
9	Stefan Svitko	+03:46'32	SLO	KTM	Oraving Slovnaft Team
10	David Casteu	+04:07'56	FRA	KTM	Team Casteu

Editor's note--today's press release from Team HRC did NOT have it's usual English translation for tomorrow's stage.

Tomorrow's stage 12

Etapa 12: El Salvador – La Serena
Enlace: 349 km            Especial: 350 km            Total: 699 km

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Las dunas de la última oportunidad

El lugar elegido en altura, El Salvador, domina claramente la ubicación habitual del bivouac de Copiapó. Esta posición permite evitar la amenaza de la camanchaca, la neblina matinal que perturba a veces la partida de las etapas. Las dunas seguirán formando parte del juego, especialmente en un ancho cordón que deberán atravesar al final de la especial. Y quien dice dunas, dice también riesgo de encallarse. El liderato puede estar en peligro.