After yesterday’s sweltering 40 degrees in Rosario, today nature whipped up a lighting storm bad enough that race organisers were forced to cancel the first stage citing safety concerns. Riders thus head straight towards the bivouac situated in Villa Carlos Paz.
Today there was no action on the track. The ASO, the organizers of the Dakar 2016, decided to call off completely the whole of the first stage after worries about rider safety. Thunder, lightning and a heavy downpour swelled various rivers and meant that the helicopters that monitor and deal with emergences had to stay grounded. Dakar director Etienne Lavigne was given no choice but to annul the first special stage of the rally.
The overall leaderboard, as a consequence, remains unchanged from yesterday’s prologue stage.
TOMORROW’ STAGE
2016 January 4. Stage 2 : Villa Carlos Paz – Termas de Río Hondo
Special sections: 450 km
Total: 786 km
The speedometer takes a leap!
The statistics speak for themselves: with around 800 kilometres to cover depending on the category, the day will be very long. There is a significant distance to cover in both the special and the liaison sections: although the terrain presents no real difficulties, the relatively fast tracks may already benefit those who love hills and crossing rivers and who can keep up high speeds over the whole distance. Cars and trucks are entitled to an extension on this day.
You can see details of the second stage (route and profile) here.
Private: Wolfgang Fischer
Everyone was looking forward to the first big stage of the Dakar 2016 from Rosario to Carlos Paz, which was supposed to be 227 kilometres through the winding tracks of the mountains. But finally the organization decided that it had to cancel the stage due to really bad weather conditions. We were facing a lot of rain, strong winds and torrential floods in the road section. They were also expecting a lot of river crossings during the stage. It was the right decision for sure, but it is not nice to lose a good stage. With respect to safety, compliments to the race organizers for making a decision not to put the riders at risk. Also, the result could change the whole rally a lot.
Provisional Standings after Stage 1
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barreda Joan | SPA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | 06'27 | |
| 2 | Faria Ruben | POR | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | +00'00 | |
| 3 | Rodrigues Helder | 7 | POR | Yamaha Motor Europe | Yamaha | +00'03 |
| 4 | Van Beveren Adrien | 42 | FRA | Yamaha Motor Europe | Yamaha | +00'04 |
| 5 | Metge Michael | 19 | FRA | Team HRC | Honda | +00'08 |
| 6 | Benavides Kevin | 47 | ARG | Honda South America Rally Team | Honda | +00'08 |
| 7 | Farres Gerard | 23 | SPA | Himoinsa Team | KTM | +00'09 |
| 8 | Quintanilla Pablo | 4 | CHI | Husqvarna Factory Rally Team | Husqvarna | +00'10 |
| 9 | Svitko Stefan | 5 | SLO | Slovnaft Rally Team | KTM | +00'11 |
| 10 | Viladoms Jordi | 11 | SPA | Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team | KTM | +00'13 |
| 11 | Pizzolito Javier | 22 | ARG | Honda South America Rally Team | Honda | +00'16 |
| 12 | Azevedo Jean | 26 | BRA | Honda South America Rally Team | Honda | +00'18 |
| 13 | Brabec Ricky | 48 | USA | Team HRC | Honda | +00'22 |
| 14 | Ceci Paolo | 32 | ITA | Team HRC | Honda | +00'31 |
| 15 | Metge Adrien | 61 | FRA | Honda South America Rally Team | Honda | +00'35 |
| 16 | Goncalves Paulo | 2 | POR | Team HRC | Honda | +01'00 |
Location Information
The greatest and toughest rally in the world, the Dakar’s history has been written in the heart of some of the world’s most stunning deserts and belongs to the world of the greatest sporting challenges of our time. Both a motor race and an orienteering challenge, the Dakar Rally pits… read more.
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