Pablo Quintanilla has left ‘honey on the lips’ Joan Barreda. The driver from Torreblanca has put in a superb performance in the third stage of the Dakarwith more than 700 kilometers of route and 438 of special and has crossed the finish line with the best time, although the final victory has been for the Chilean, benefiting from a bonus of 3’30” that the organization owed him and which has been applied at the end of the stage.
Barreda He has gone from less to more, cutting Quintanilla’s time at each checkpoint and starting at km 310 he has become a real alternative to the Chilean’s victory. A rocky terrain, which on paper was not the most favorable for Hero’s Indian motorcycle, has not been an obstacle to the brilliance of the Spaniard, who has ‘flew’ in the Saudi desert. Nor has his teammate Ross Brach, who finished fifth, been out of tune.
To Joan, the Spanish driver with the most stage wins in the Dakar (29) and that after ten years at Honda he faces what may be his last rally, his performance has not been enough to score what would have been his 30th victory, but the positive side is that both he and Branch have shown that they have a bike to aim for the final podium.
Third in the stage has been the current champion Kevin Benavides. He arrived on the Dakar starting podium shaken, after undergoing surgery for a fractured fibula a month before the start of the rally, after being injured during the preparation stage in California. But ‘heroes’ are made of a different stuff and today the Argentine driver has made it clear by setting a very strong pace throughout the special, ending in Al-Salamiya.
The previous champion, San Sunderland He has not had the same luck and after suffering a breakdown at km 11 of the stage he has had to say goodbye early to the race, which in just three days has already lost some of the main favorites, such as the Spanish Schareina, winner of the prologue and accident in the first stage, and Lorenzo Santolino, due to mechanical problems in his Sherco.
Stage classification:
Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) 4h 37′ 42” Joan Barreda (Hero) at 1′ 38” Kevin Benavides (Ktm) at 1′ 46” Ricky Brabec (Honda) at 1′ 57” Ross Branch (Hero) at 4′ 04” Adrien Van Beveren (Honda) at 4′ 37” José Ignacio Cornejo (Honda) at 5′ 20” Stefan Svitko (Slonaft) at 6′ 50” Martin Michek (Orion) at 9′ 18′ ‘Rui Gonçalves (Sherco) at 11’ 03”
2024-01-08 12:00:03
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