Dakar 2017, Stage 2: Santosh stays top Indian, Aravind rides through pain

Tuesday's 275km of the special stage from Resistencia to San Miguel de Tucuman in Argentina, saw Santosh making inroads from his Monday's position.

The Hero rider finished 41st in the stage and was 39th overall with a total time of 3hr40m26s, a mere 0.72s behind Espana Munoz in the KTM, after taking penalties of other riders.

Throughout the stage, the Bangalore-born rider gained time on his Speedbrain 450, only dropping down a bit reaching the second passage control.

Meanwhile, teammate Joaquim Rodrigues lost time at the start of his run, as well as at CP1 and CP3 to end up 22nd in the stage, and also in the overall standings with a time of 3hr21m35s.

Over at TVS Sherco, Pedrero had a difficult day finishing 11th in the stage and ninth overall. He was 6m46s behind the new leader and defending champion Toby Price in the KTM, but benefited from others penalties to remain inside the Top 10.

Among the remaining two riders, while Adrien Metge improved on his position, Aravind lost time after he broke two bones on his left hand during a small crash in Stage 1.

The Bangalore-born rider suffered a fall when a slower rider cut across his path, close to the finish line on Monday's stage. Riding with significant pain, he finished 127th in Stage 2 and was 125th overall, more than two hours behind Price's time.

Whereas, Metge incurred a 15 minutes penalty which meant he was 123rd in the Tuesday's stage and 124th overall on his 450 RTR in his recovery ride, after a fall on Monday's sprint stage.