Photo: dakar.com
Few more grueling days and the 2014 Dakar will be over, but so far Stage 8 ended with the first victory for the 5-times overall winner Cyril Despres, in his first year on Yamaha machinery.
The Frenchman is currently in the 9th overall position, 5 stages before the rally is over, but has a solid gap of almost 2 and a half hours, which is rather impossible to cover without some of the riders ahead of him making huge mistakes or withdrawing.
Despres' former KTM team mate Marc Coma is leading the provisional standings, followed by Honda's Juan Barreda Bort, KTM Jordi Viladoms and Sherco's Alain Duclos in the 5th position.
Stage 9 brings all the Dakar racers from the heights of the Andes to the Pacific ocean, with a 37 km (23 miles) liaison from Calama and another hefty special stage leg 422 km (262 miles) long to Iquique.
Stages 7 and 8 saw only two withdrawals, and this means that we're still dealing with 83 riders left in the race. At the time of writing, 67 of them have departed for Iquique, 3 of them already through Waypoint 2.
US - Stage 8 - Car/Bike - Stage Summary... de Dakar
Despres' former KTM team mate Marc Coma is leading the provisional standings, followed by Honda's Juan Barreda Bort, KTM Jordi Viladoms and Sherco's Alain Duclos in the 5th position.
Stage 9 brings all the Dakar racers from the heights of the Andes to the Pacific ocean, with a 37 km (23 miles) liaison from Calama and another hefty special stage leg 422 km (262 miles) long to Iquique.
Stages 7 and 8 saw only two withdrawals, and this means that we're still dealing with 83 riders left in the race. At the time of writing, 67 of them have departed for Iquique, 3 of them already through Waypoint 2.
US - Stage 8 - Car/Bike - Stage Summary... de Dakar
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