Dakar

Stage 3 Puerto Madryn to Jacobacci quotes

Stage 3 Monday 5 January 2009 Puerto Madryn to Jacobacci Connection 70 km Special 551 km Connection 73 km BIKE: Marc Coma (Esp - 2 - KTM) - 002 "After the trouble I had yesterday, I was a bit concerned because there were a lot of riders ...

Published: Jun 19, 2009, 7:30 PM

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Stage 3
Monday 5 January 2009
Puerto Madryn to Jacobacci

Connection 70 km
Special 551 km
Connection 73 km

BIKE:

Marc Coma (Esp - 2 - KTM) - 002

"After the trouble I had yesterday, I was a bit concerned because there were a lot of riders ahead of me and a lot of dust too. But I could drive at my own pace. It was a fast stage with a very technical section; a very complex stage actually. One thing is certain: the bikes are suffering a lot and the tyres are suffering even more. For now, we are staying out of trouble. Each one has his own strategy and we are doing fine with ours."

David Fretigne (Fra - 12 - Yamaha) - 012

"Today was super fast again. This is the third fast stage and I am managing. I just mind my own business and do my own race. I manage. I am very demanding with my bike too. But I have to be careful and pay attention to absolutely everything even if my small 450cc is doing a great job right now."

Jordy Viladoms (Esp - 9 - KTM) - 009

"It was good team work. Everything went as planned. In the beginning of the stage, I had some trouble with the roadbook but it ended up allowing Marc and I to drive together from CP1 on. In the last kilometers, I was a bit careful with the tyres, because we drove a lot of kilometers. And our choice was really the right one. We know Dakar is Dakar and this one is only beginning."

Cyril Despres (Fra - 1 - KTM) - 001

"Since I've had a flat tyre, I am having a hard time believing in inner tubes This morning I pushed in a foam bib and after 200km the tyre was flat again. It's hard if I cannot use either inner tubes or foam bibs. Marc Coma is doing great. They must have worked hard. There must be a secret. Today, I have lost a lot of time again. I have no solution to the problem. I don't see my future: in three days, I had three tough times. I just cannot believe it. Today, I am not sure I have what it takes technically to win the Dakar. At refueling I decided to wait for Alain Duclos who gave me his wheel. The good news is that as of that moment I could really start racing on the last 150 km, open up and give gas. It's only 150 km out of the 2,000 in the race so far and it was pure pleasure... at last."

CAR:

Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qat - 302 - BMW) - 302

"Today, I had to attack. I lost a lot of time in yesterday's stage so I had to take that into account and push hard during this special stage. So I drove fast and passed Terranova, then Miller, etc. And eventually, 80 km before the finish, I even passe a bike who went astray towards the left at the same time so I avoided him and ran flat. We lost about 3 min changing the tyre but then we drove on as fast as ever. Now, I know that Carlos and I, we will be playing the game. Tomorrow, he will start behind me and I'm sure he will be putting the pressure on pretty quickly in the race."

Stephane Peterhansel (Fra - 300 - Mitsubishi) - 300

"It was a fast stage. We had a hard time keeping the lead car in our sight. We lost time little by little. From then on, there was nothing but dust and without a pacemaker in front, it was hard to keep going. We finished with a delay. I hope we will find more technical routes with some tech crossing because this is how we can thing about making a difference. The car is going well; its performances are ok. But now we need bumpier trails to make the best of its good suspension and great balance."

Giniel De Villiers (Afs - 305 - VW) - 304

It was a pretty nice stage; this time, there were more sinuous sections and I found this more interesting than the two previous ones. It was very fast in the beginning and very fast at the end as well, so there were not many opportunities to create big gaps. We just tried to drive clean and avoid boulders as there were many on the trail. For now, we must keep putting pressure on the Mitsubishis. So far, we have had no problems so we will try to keep going that way and we'll see what happens.

TRUCK:

Hans Stacey (Ndl - 500 MAN) - 500

"We really had bad luck. We had a flat tyre today. It is our third flat in three days! It's incredibe. I am not giving up the fight though. Anything can happen. It's a race. The truck is doing fine. It's just a pitty to loose so much time. We are really fast... faster than the others. But it's dangerous with the dust, especially for the bikes."

Gerard De Rooy (Ndl - 505 - Ginaf) - 505

"I was passed by Chagin in the last 40 km. There were long straight stretches but the technical sections were great. I hope that starting with stage 4, the raid will be more technical with less straight trails."

-credit: aso

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