Arras-Madrid-Dakar: Stage 12 quotes

Wednesday, January 9, 2002
Stage 12 - Tikjikja to Tichit

BIKES

Alfie Cox
"I started 10m behind this morning and you don't know how to pace yourself. Up until the refuel it was fast, but for the last 75kms I really pushed. I caught and passed Carlo, but never caught Fabrizio or Roma. I wanted to get back into contention. The last section was really tricky. I can see some service vehicles struggling to get through there tonight."

Kari Tiainen
"Next time I don't have chance to win the race, I will quit. The last few days I have been losing my concentration and had an accident. Apparently, it was a simple accident. The bike fell on me and Eric Bernard activated the balaise."

CARS

Jutta Kleinschmidt
"It was a much better stage than yesterday, the camel grass was not too bad. We all had a flat tyre except for Shino, but he was lucky. Hiro and I stopped at the top of this great sand dune to see if we could pass, and Shino tried to go left. It was a very long way down....it was not the best parking space he could have chosen and he was stuck...Three days to go, I know we cannot catch Hiro, but this is the Dakar, you never know!"

-aso-