The tenth stage brought gold!
At the beginning of the Dakar adventure dedicated Ales Loprais the imaginary silver for the second place in the opening stage to his new-born son Alex. Then he added a bronze in the third stage from San Rafael to San Juan and the collection of successes is complete after yesterday, Ales Loprais added the most valuable - the stage gold!
Ales Loprais and the 504 crew were very successful in the 10th stage. Since start in Iquique the truck drove as fast as hell. On the first waypoint on 33rd km was Ales losing five seconds to the leading Karginov, on the second was the Queen 69 a half a minute before Kamaz. But that wasn't the end of pulling over. After 106 km on the 3rd waypoint lead Karginov again, but only one second ahead Ales Loprais! The lead was bigger on the 4th waypoint, but on the sixth waypoint the order was how all Czech fans wanted to see - Loprais the first and Karginov a minute and 40 seconds after him. At the end of the first part of the special stage was Ales Loprais the fastest again, a minute and 19 seconds ahead before his pursuers.
Organizers commented it on the official website briefly and clearly: "Yes, Loprais! The Czech pilot with Tatra was the fastest in the first part of the special stage!" Ales Loprais didn't leto go anyone in front of him in the second part of the special stage along the Pacific Ocean, which totally measured 631 km. Karginov from Kamaz reduced the loss gradually, but it was not enough. The comment of the organizers again: "Loprais breaks the ice - Ales Loprais (Tatra) first wins on the 2014 Dakar!" Karginov lost 37 seconds after our crew. This is almost trivial difference on more than 600 km, but the victory is sweet. De Rooy was on the third place with the loss of six minutes and 10 seconds. Ales Loprais won in the stage, which was not easy. Dunes, sand, fesh-fesh dust everywhere. Sotnikov from Kamaz would tell about it, which defended the fourth place in the overall ranking. But he got stuck yesterday, so now is Ales Loprais on the fourth place in the overall ranking. He is losing about 33 minutes to the third Nikolajev. De Rooy is winning, Karginov is after yesterday 8 minutes after him.
"Winning the stage! Satisfaction after technical problems in previous days. We had only three clear stages without technical problems so far in this Dakar. The more I am pleased that we always conquered the podium," happily evaluates Ales Loprais the result and continues: "2014 Dakar is really hard... Until today we managed to find the optimum damper setting, which is essential to ride in Atacama Desert. On the one side the sixth victory of stage in the Dakar charged me extremely, but on the other hand however I am sorry that the setting we discovered now. However tomorrow may be all different. I really would like to get on the podium this year, but I realize how difficult it will be."
Difficult terrain of yesterday's stage gave a hard time to the other racers. In the car category quitted Spanish veteran Carlos Sainz, among motorcyclist Chilean racer Israel Esquerre. Conversely Czech biker David Pabiska, who finished on the 24th place yesterday, is on the seventeenth place in the overall ranking. Our team experienced a lot yesterday, Ales Loprais describes it: "I have great pleasure of driving of our second crew, which leads our Princess through the Dakar adventures. They helped other Tatra from a competitive team today, which made me very happy too." Crew number 519 finished the stage on the 23rd place with loss of 2:42:32 and is on the 16th place of the overall ranking.
11th stage: Antofagasta - El Salvador
The connecting section: 144 km / The special stage: 605 km
Organizers say about this stage that will be the key stage of the 2014 edition of Dakar. In addition to the distance, here the competitors will be put to the test by all the difficulties offered by the Atacama Desert... and will have to display all the qualities required for off-road races. After the mine tracks and the many rivers to cross, the competitors will have to distinguish themselves in the heart of the Dunes of Copiapo: the fastest motorcyclists are expected to spend seven hours behind the wheel. Needless to say that on this decisive day there will be no shortage of opportunities for competitors to make a winning comeback in the race.
The tenth stage brought another unbelievable moment for Ales Loprais: "A nice visit and a great surprise honoured me in the bivouac. The unpleasant accident affected us in 2012, when we fought with de Rooy about the winning. The micro sleep subdued our co-pilot in the connecting section. It was a terrible moment and one local family cared of us immediately after the crash and spent the time until the arrival of the helicopter with us and kept us awake. And this family arrived today to greet us to the finish of stage. It means much to me... Greetings to all, who keep their finger crossed and push us forward to pursuit of the Dakar Bedouins! Thanks!"
