Cyril Despres Stage 11
Cyril Despres Stage 11
Stage 11
Antofagasta > El Salvador
Connection 144 km
Special stage 605 km
Total 749 km
It was the overall leader Marc Coma who came from behind to win the special with Cyril Despres (Yamaha Factory Racing) second at 2’51. Overall the battle for third place continues to rage with Cyril now 23’22 off the podium with just two day’s racing left until the end in Valparaiso. Michael Metge finished 11th on special to move up to 12th overall.
Cyril Despres
“Six hours 38 minutes – that’s a long day’s racing and in 605 kilometres of special we had pretty much everything – climbs, descents, sand, pistes, rios – the lot. I was hoping to get pulled along by Barreda but unfortunately he crashed heavily and destroyed his navigation gear, so I ended up opening the piste again – this time for 400 kilometres. And inevitably when you open its difficult to pull back time. Tomorrow I start behind Marc and I think there’s a strong chance I’ll end up opening again. He’s pretty comfortably installed in the lead and if he pulls over and lets me pass he’ll be helping his team mate Viladoms.”
Michael Metge
“If I’d done this special last year I’d have been completely exhausted at the end of it. But this year, with my new fitness regime, I feel pretty good, despite almost 7 hours on the bike. And now ‘the boss’ has ‘suggested’ that I ride the static bike for 20 minutes to aid recuperation. I can’t complain – he’s just done the same!”