Arras-Madrid-Dakar: Stage 13 quotes

Thursday January 10, 2002 Stage 13 - Tachit Loop

BIKES

Joan Roma
"A difficult day for me, without GPS, with 300 kms of camel grass. It would have been stupid to run in front and take the risks. I ran with Fabrizio, but it was him who did the work. It was impossible to make a difference. I preferred to avoid an accident. Three minutes difference, it is a little. Tomorrow I start behind Meoni. If it is a good day to attack, I will do it."

Fabrizio Meoni
"Today, Nani didn't want to do the navigation, so I had to. It was not possible for me to attack. Ina descent. The bike was stuck in the camel grass. I fell to the ground and the bike fell on me. I was able to appreciate the weight of the twin-cylinder! On my last 10 rallies, I have almost won the last day each time. I hope that the battle will go to the last day. But, on this type of terrain, I don't think that the bike will help me much."

Alfie Cox
"The last kilometres were torture. The camel grass, for 150 kilometres, was incredible. And if I tried to go a little bit quicker, I risked coming off the bike. Today, it was simply to finish. Tomorrow, if the conditions are suitable, I have to push."

CARS

Hiroshi Masuoka
"For me it was a very diffiucult stage today. The car is tired and I am tired. The camel grass, oh, it was so hard. Jutta is stuck in the dunes, Shino had a problem and we had a small collision with Jean-Pierre. It was not a case of going fast, just to survive was important.

Now I must be very careful tomorrow."

Jean-Pierre Fontenay
"About 50 kms from the end of the stage we were on a descent and I was alongside Hiro. He started to slide down the sand and we came together gently, it was so slippery. No problem. But the camel grass today was very tough. It was a hard stage, seemed to go on forever."

-aso-