- Farrés lands another spectacular ride, asserting his position as the top Spaniard and inching closer to the podium.
- In a stage loaded with tough navigation, “Red Army” riders Oliveras and Gimeno also manage to climb up the leaderboards
January 6th, 2017 – Oruro (Bolivia). It can be confirmed that Dakar 2017 will be one of the toughest ever. The fifth stage, linking Tupiza and Oruro in Bolivian territory, stirred up the rally standings with critical areas of navigation which caused many top riders to lose “buckets” of minutes. In these troubled waters, Dakar’s Red Army managed to profit from the situation and placed three of its warriors among the day’s best. All this with the special being cut to 219 km by Dakar organization due to climatological complications.
Arriving to the finish line, the rider that never fails, the great master of consistency in the World’s toughest race, Gerard Farrés put on yet another clinic. The Himoinsa Racing Team leader was capable of riding fast and navigating wisely to avoid falling in the same traps which other race leaders stumbled upon. While Barreda, Svitko, Walkner, Renet, Metge and many others got lost and threw away big margins, “Farreti” only struggled for a few minutes before joining British Sunderland and Chilean Quintanilla to retake the correct route to the finish line. This allows him to climb further positions in the rankings and get closer to the podium (currently sitting in fourth).
The Bolivian Altiplano insisted on completely shaking up the classification, causing a leader change (now Sunderland) as well as giving some wildcards their time to shine. This was the case for the Himoinsa Racing Team boys, Dani Oliveras and Antonio Gimeno. The Catalan trials specialist took everybody by surprise and took advantage of the front runners’ navigation issues, sneaking into the stage’s top ten (9th) while Madrid native Gimeno accomplished a similar feat, ending up in 13th position, a great relief to make up for yesterday’s speeding penalisation. A stern look was visible on the face of Iván Cervantes, who was on fire for most of the stage riding in the top ten, only to fall victim of the Bolivian desert’s vengeance in the final stages, losing upwards of half an hour.
Dakar 2017 is on the verge of completing its first week, and day after day it confirms that this year’s itinerary will take no prisoners, even before the arrival of the weather. Tomorrow, the last stage before rest day; 513 kilometres of relentless terrain in a special which will surely shake up the rankings again. Let’s hope that the Red Army will stay afloat.
STAGE
5th Farrés 14:57 behind
9th Oliveras 24:19 behind
13th Gimeno 29:58 behind
40th Cervantes 52:25 behind
OVERALL
4th Farrés 20:47 behind
17th Oliveras 1:44:51 behind
23rd Cervantes 1:57:01 behind
27th Gimeno 2:24:32 behind
