HRC’s Helder Rodrigues put together a great ride on Stage 6 of the Dakar Rally, winning the day and moving into sixth overall. Photography by HRC.
At the completion of today’s Stage 6 of the Dakar Rally, motorcycle racers have reached the mid-way point of the race, and now look forward to a much-needed day of rest. Honda’s Helder Rodrigues led the way today as riders left Antofagasta and headed up the Chilean coast to Iquique. Rodrigues won the day ahead of KTM’s Toby Price, and HRC’s Paolo Goncalves.
Rally leader Joan Barreda and defending Dakar Rally Champion Marc Coma continued their battle today, as the two kept a watchful eye on each other heading into the Stage 6 special. Things got interesting in the second half of the special test when the dueling Spaniards got off track and started losing time, but Barreda stayed where he needed to be – ahead of Coma – and despite a sixth-place finish on the day, Barreda was able to put another two minutes over the Red Bull KTM rider today.
“At the beginning I had a small crash – nothing important,” Coma explained. “But it meant that I did not feel comfortable at the beginning of the stage. Then the navigation was also a little bit tricky. I lost some time looking for a waypoint, but it was nothing dramatic. In the end, I was opening all the day with Joan together, but this is the game.”
All eyes are on Red Bull KTM’s Marc Coma who continues to chase down Joan Barreda for the overall lead. Photography by RallyZone Bauer/Barni.
Rodrigues’ win today marked his sixth career stage victory in the Dakar. The HRC rider was able to make big gains in the standings after Stage 6, and has now put his HRC Honda into sixth overall.
“I started very badly with my body at the beginning of this rally,” Rodrigues said. “I had three days that were not so good. On day four I had a problem with the bike due to mechanical problems, but today I had a good stage. Of course, I’m happy and I have one week more to attack.”
Price demonstrated good speed and great navigational talent today en route to second place today. The Australian KTM rider, participating in his first Dakar, pushed his way into the top-five in provisional standings with his runner-up finish.
Australian Toby Price impressed with his navigational skills on Stage 6 – his patience led him to finish second on the day. Photography by RallyZone Bauer/Barni.
“I’ve come away with a pretty good time,” Price said. “It’s a little bit surprising. It’s good though. We had a good run through there – no crashes and I kept the bike on two wheels. I almost missed a waypoint and had to turn around and go back and find it. Then every time I came to a cap heading I just stopped and recalibrated everything to make sure I was heading the right way.
“I thought the navigation would have been really hard today, so I just took my time with it and made sure I didn’t make any mistakes. It’s definitely good for my first Dakar to be up there at the pointy end of the field. It’s good practice, but I’m sure somewhere along the way again next week I’ll make another mistake and have another bad day, but it’s all part of the learning curve. We’re enjoying it and loving the race and all the fans that are coming out to watch – it’s unreal!”
HRC’s stalwart rider Paolo Goncalves managed to make up some time today on the Spanish leaders, and his third-place finish (ahead of both Barreda and Coma) went a long way to tighten up the top-three. Goncalves now sits less than 5 minutes from Coma, and just over 17 minutes behind his HRC teammate in the lead.
Honda’s Paolo Goncalves (pictured) made up good time on second-place rider Coma today, effectively slicing his time deficit in half during Stage 6. Photography by HRC.
KTM’s Matthias Walkner, winner of Stage 3, had a disastrous time today. The rookie rider had to stop several times before even reaching the first checkpoint, and lost nearly two and a half hours by the time he reached checkpoint 3. Walkner’s terrible finish saw him plunge in overall standings from 7th to 33rd.
Tomorrow riders will receive a welcomed day of rest in Iquique, Chile, and they will need to regain every ounce of strength for the upcoming marathon stages. On Sunday morning, the Dakar Rally heads into Bolivia where riders will face two very long days in the saddle with no bivouac or technical support in between.
Dakar Motorcycle Results – Stage 6
1. Helder Rodrigues (Hon)
2. Toby Price (KTM)
3. Paolo Goncalves (Hon)
4. Pablo Quintanilla (KTM)
5. Stefan Svitko (KTM)
6. Joan Barreda (Hon)
7. Jeremias Israel (Hon)
8. Marc Coma (KTM)
9. Ruben Faria (KTM)
10. Ivan Jakes (KTM)
Provisional Standings After Stage 6
1. Joan Barreda (21:38:35)
2. Marc Coma (+12:27)
3. Paolo Goncalves (+17:12)
4. Pablo Quintanilla (+29:57)
5. Toby Price (+33:44)
6. Helder Rodrigues (+36:04)
7. Ruben Faria (+40:27)
8. Stefan Svitko (+41:27)
9. Alain Duclos (+52:56)
10. Jeremias Israel (+1:00:48)
