Cycle News Staff | January 10, 2010
Despite Heinz Kinigadner winning the latest stage of the Total-Dakar-Cairo 2000 Rally today, KTM’s Juan Roma, Kinigadner’s teammate, still leads the overall standings over Richard Sainct of the BMW team.
Kinigadner won the day’s “special,” just 13 seconds ahead of teammate Roma, with Sainct coming in third. Less than a minute separated the leading teams after the fifth stage, which had little impact on the overall standings. Roma currently holds a 23-minute, 22-second lead over Sainct, with Kinigadner just a little over five minutes behind Sainct. Finland’s Kari Tianen is currently fourth.
KTM lost its third rider, with Giovanni Sala failing to start the fifth day after incurring injuries the day before. BMW also lost a rider, the team’s first to go out, when John Deacon’s bike melted a foam insert and he crashed heavily. A trip to the hospital revealed shoulder and leg injuries, and a broken bone in his hand.
The only American in the rally, Jimmy Lewis, is still plugging away on his factory BMW. He finished out the fifth-day special in seventh place and is currently ranked sixth overall.
