Cyril Despres » Dakar 2011

Dakar 2011 – Stage 13

Cyril — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 09:27:16 +0000

Marc Coma held on to his lead over the last stage to win the 2011 Dakar 15’04 ahead of eternal rival Cyril Despres (Red Bull KTM). There was however a major podium upset when Chaleco Lopez’s suspension broke just kilometres from the end, handing third place to the Portuguese rider Helder Rodrigues. Cyril’s team mate Ruben Faria finished in 8th place.

Cyril Despres

“I came here with the firm intention of repeating last year’s win and so anything less is bound to me a disappointment. Having said that, my 2011 Dakar was far from being a negative experience. I rode to the best of my ability and my speed and navigation were a match for my ambitions. The bike also performed superbly – to take the first two places on the bike’s Dakar debut is a quite remarkable achievement and a credit to KTM and their technicians. Much less positive was the 10 minute penalty I received early on in the event. The fact that I didn’t lose the time out on the piste makes it all the harder to digest. That and the navigation error that I made while pushing hard to make up that lost time were the only mistakes throughout the race but they were enough to push me off the top spot. Bravo to the winner and to the organisers for laying on a great race and a big thank you to my team, KTM and all my sponsors for their unstinting support.”

Pictures: Red Bull

Dakar 2011 – Stage 12

Cyril — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 00:06:40 +0000

The penultimate stage of the Dakar 2011 went to Marc Coma just 37 seconds ahead of Cyril Despres (Red Bull KTM) with Helder Rodrigues third at 7’21. Overall Coma maintains his lead and is 16’35 in front of Cyril with Chaleco Lopez in third (at 59’27).

Cyril Despres

“Once again I attacked hard, opening from start to finish, in the hope of provoking some change in the rankings. But despite my best efforts, over 555 kilometres and almost seven hours of racing, nothing budged. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy myself. Although it didn’t actually rain on the special you could see that it had rained a lot over the previous days and the first sixty kilometres or so were on wet sand – it was liking racing Le Touquet. After that we got into the truck ruts with some enormous puddles which made life interesting! Now we have just one day’s racing but I’ll keep trying until the last kilometre.”

Picture: Red Bull

Dakar 2011 – Stage 11

Cyril — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 16:16:42 +0000

Victory on the today’s stage to San Juan went to Cyril Despres (Red Bull KTM) 2’11 ahead of Marc Coma with Chaleco Lopez third at 6’19. Overall Cyril pulls back to 15’59 behind Coma with Lopez now 49’24 down. Following a missed waypoint on yesterday’s stage, Cyril’s team mate Ruben Faria was given a 2 hour penalty and is this evening down in 8th place overall.

Cyril Despres

“We left the bivouac this morning at 05.30 and I arrived in San Juan this evening at 15.30 with only a couple of short breaks to refuel – a long day on the bike – especially given that even now it is 40 degrees in the shade. Despite the difficult conditions I attacked really hard all day over what was a really beautiful stage. In the first special I came up behind Marc 3 or 4 times but couldn’t pass in the dust. But on the second special I managed to get by and pull back a little time overall. Tomorrow we have another long 678 kilometre stage and hopefully another chance to change the overall rankings.”

Pictures: Red Bull

Dakar 2011 – Stage 10

Cyril — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 23:20:55 +0000

The 10th leg of the Dakar 2011 went to Marc Coma 9’56 ahead of Cyril Despres (Red Bull KTM) with Cyril’s team mate Ruben Faria third (at 13’22). Overall Coma increases his lead to 18’10 with Lopez third at 45’16.

Cyril Despres

“Not one of my better days. I started off well and then I made a navigation error that turned into a nightmare. I got into a riverbed, got stuck in mud, went down a 3 metres high step and couldn’t turn back. It could have been a lot worse. In the end I managed to fight my way through the undergrowth to come out at the right place and ‘only’ lose 10 minutes – I could have easily lost an hour. Now this evening I am just over 18 minutes behind Marc. Obviously it isn’t ideal, but I have been a lot more behind than that and still won the rally. With three stages left to Buenos Aires it isn’t over yet.”

Picture: Red Bull

Dakar 2011 – Stage 9

Cyril — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 22:57:32 +0000

This morning’s mass start produced an atypical stage result, with the win going to the American Street 3’38 ahead of Verhoeven with Casteu third at 3’40. Starting in the first wave of ten, Cyril Despres (Red Bull KTM) finished 7th (at 6’03) with Marc Coma 9th (at 7’08). Overall Cyril reduces Coma’s lead to 8’14 with Lopez third at 23’33. Despite finishing in 26th place Cyril’s team mate Ruben Faria maintains his 5th place overall.

Cyril Despres

“Last night with the team we examined a few different strategies for today’s mass start, but as is often the case, I had to come up with a couple more as the stage progressed. The first forced revision came early on in the special when my kilometre counter stopped functioning. Helder (Rodrigues) was leading and so I had little choice but to follow him. The other 8 riders in our wave did the same and by the time we realised we were on the wrong track and had doubled back the second wave of 20 riders had gone by and there was dust and bikes in all directions. After that I didn’t have many solutions until just 20 kilometres from the end when I made a break and managed to take just over 1 minute from Marc. Although I might have preferred a different outcome, the final result went in the right direction and there is another interesting special in Fiambala in Argentina tomorrow that holds promise.”

Picture: Red Bull

Dakar 2011 – Stage 8

Cyril — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 23:49:11 +0000

Over the long 508 km special, from Antofagasta to Copiapo, victory went to Marc Coma, 1’55 ahead of Cyril Despres (Red Bull KTM), with Chaleco Lopez third at 4’21. Overall Coma increases his lead to 9’19 over Cyril with Lopez now at 22’48.

Cyril Despres

“Although I tried as hard as I could to avoid the outcome of today’s special it was all too predictable. Chaleco (Lopez) started first this morning, I caught him and then we were both caught by Marc (Coma). Chaleco made an effort to open the piste but I ended up doing most of the work and Marc followed us to protect his lead. The only point of satisfaction is that right at the end of the stage I managed to break away and cross the finish line ahead of them. Tomorrow we have a mass start, with the 10 leading riders starting together, and again it will be difficult to make the break. But again you can be certain I will give it my all to pull back the time.”

Picture: Red Bull

Dakar 2011 – Stage 7

Cyril — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 21:03:03 +0000

Chaleco Lopez received a hero’s welcome on arriving victorious at the bivouac in Antofagasta 2’21 ahead of Cyril Despres (Red Bull KTM) with Marc Coma third at 3’45. Helder Rodrigues was 4th at 9’14 with Cyril’s team mate Ruben Faria 5th at 10’44. Overall Cyril once again pulls back time on Coma and this evening is just 7’24 behind the Spaniard with Lopez also creeping closer at 18’27.

Cyril Despres

“Another special that was great fun to ride. I caught Helder at about kilometre 90 and got stuck in his dust until we got to the erg at kilometre 148. Then, after the refuelling CP, we took a different route to the quads and cars and went through a series of valleys on little goat tracks. There were some really steep climbs and descents – it was like the Ezberg Rodeo in places – and I couldn’t help wondering how Cali (Christian Califano) was going to manage. All in all a superb day’s riding and the result wasn’t too bad either.”

Picture: Red Bull

Dakar 2011 – Rest day

Cyril — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 12:32:25 +0000

After having been announced winner of the 6th stage, Ruben Faria (Red Bull KTM) was finally reclassified 3rd following an organiser’s timing error. This meant victory was passed to Helder Rodrigues with Cyril Despres second. The reclassification however had no impact on the overall result with Cyril pulling back to 8’48 behind Marc Coma, the Chilean Chaleco Lopez third (at 22’12), Rodrigues fourth (at 27’35) and Ruben moving up one place to fifth (at 33’54).

Cyril Despres

“We are now at the rest day which marks the rally’s halfway point and the mechanics are busy rebuilding the bikes in readiness for the second week. From a sporting point of view the first week was very positive. The pace has been fast right from the beginning and we have had some great specials. I am also satisfied with how I have been riding. I haven’t had any big crashes, I’m not caring any injuries, my navigation has been precise and my speed good. The team is also functioning very well and Ruben (Faria) has been doing a great job supporting me on the piste. Away from the track, obviously the big negative has been the 10 minute penalty. It is frustrating to lose time for a detail in the rule book but that too is part of rally-raid and I just have to accept it. Now at 8’48 behind the leader there is still everything to play for and I am looking forward to a really hard second week that will allow me to make the difference.

Picture: Red Bull

Dakar 2011 – Stage 6

Cyril — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 10:21:14 +0000

Victory on the last stage before the rest day went to the Portuguese rider Ruben Faria ahead of compatriot Helder Rodrigues (at 0’50) and Red Bull KTM team mate Cyril Despres (at 3’45). Overall Cyril pulls back on leader Marc Coma and this evening is 8’48 behind the Spaniard, with the Chilean Chaleco Lopez third (at 22’12), Rodrigues fourth (at 27’35) and Ruben moving up one place to fifth (at 29’54).

Cyril Despres

“I felt good on the bike this morning and quickly caught up with Marc around the 45 kilometre mark. He wasn’t attacking very hard and I was getting ready to overtake him when Chaleco (Lopez) arrived and got between us. That made overtaking a whole lot more difficult and I ended up getting stuck in their dust until the Erg at kilometre 240. It was a big climb up to the top and all three of us got stuck, but I got out first and made it round to the way point. From there I opened the piste almost to the end when I was joined by Rodrigues. Now we are in the rest day bivouac and will have tomorrow off before attacking the second week of racing taking us back to Buenos Aires.”

Pictures: Red Bull

Dakar 2011 – Stage 5

Cyril — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 20:38:29 +0000

Victory on the special went to Paulo Gonçalves ahed of local hero ‘Chaleco’ Lopez at 2’18, with Verhoeven third (at 2’19). Cyril Despres (Red Bull KTM) finished fifth at 4’10 with Ruben Faria 7th at 12’05. Following a 10 minute penalty, given last night for incorrectly exiting the bivouac time control yesterday morning, Cyril is now 10’14 behind Coma overall, with Lopez third at 18’32. Ruben Faria is 6th at 35’14.

Cyril Despres

“I think that was probably the best desert navigation stage I have done ever – just incredible – especially the last 90 kilometres . We were in the dunes, and trying to find an 800 metre waypoint in there was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. You follow the notes from valley to valley and you think you will never find it and when you do there is this sense of satisfaction… I came across the finish line with Chaleco (Lopez) and we were both laughing like kids reliving our experiences. Today went a long way to making up for yesterday’s time penalty – it helps me remember why I love this sport so much.”

Picture: Red Bull