The Honda CRF450 RALLY and Joan Barreda continue to accumulate stage wins in the Dakar 2015

Joan Barreda accelerates his way to a third win in the Dakar 2015 as the tenth stage concludes in Cachi, Argentina. Paulo Gonçalves holds second place outright, and Laia enjoys eighth overall.

With six out of a possible ten stage victories, the Honda CRF450 RALLY has been the runaway winner of the manufacturers, until now, in this 2015 Rally Dakar, already equalling the total number of victories of last year’s edition, with three stages still left to run.

It was a win in the tenth stage once again at the hands of Joan Barreda, in a fine exhibition of conviction and leadership qualities, which saw the Spaniard lead the charge from metre one of the special, until its culmination 371 kilometres later, clocking a 1’39” margin over the nearest rival and taking the score tab of stage triumphs to three.
Riders awoke today to the first part of the marathon stage, which headed out from Calama before finishing up at the camp in Cachi, where all bikes were immediately impounded in the parc fermè, barred from receiving overnight assistance, except by the participants themselves.

Hélder Rodrigues and Paulo Gonçalves covered a great length of the course in each other’s company, Barreda and Coma joining the pack later. The gap at the top sees Paulo Gonçalves, seven and a half minutes adrift of the rally leader and ready to pounce. Gonçalves took fifth spot on the day, and Rodrigues seventh.

A nice stage for the formidable Laia Sanz, in twelfth. The Catalan rider lies in a ground-breaking eighth overall, some twenty minutes ahead of the nearest pursuer in the general rankings. Jeremías Israel came in with a similar finish-time in 13th.

Honda South America Rally Team’s top finisher in the first marathon leg was Brazilian Jean Azevedo, who achieved his highest-placed finish so far in the 2015 edition, with an 18th place. Javier Pizzolito, fifth yesterday, was among the first thirty back to base today.

Follow our riders in the race here !!

TOMORROW’S STAGE
STAGE 11 – Thursday, 15th January
Cachi (CHI) – Termas de Río Hondo (ARG)

Liaison: 166 km
Special stage: 357 km

Did you say tiredness?

The rally will continue on two separate routes, following the famous Ruta 40 and winding through its magnificent landscapes. Riders won’t have time to relax on these fast routes though: the fatigue which will have accumulated by the 11th day of the race (the 4th marathon day for the motorcycles and quads!) will demand maximum concentration on both the route and the road-book.