Héleder Rodrigues has been the fastest on stage 6 of 2015 Dakar motorcycle edition in the desert of Atacama. Toby Price and Paulo Gonçalves were second and third, only two minutes behind. Barreda Bort extends the lead two minutes more from Marc Coma.
Rodrigues has become the winner of one of the strongest stage of the rally, after beat his physical problems from first days, the Honda driver has any mechanical problem to be the fastest today.
“I started very badly with my body at the beginning of this rally. I had three days that were not so good. On day four I had a problem with the bike due to mechanical problems, but today I had a good stage. Of course, I’m happy and I have one week more to attack. I’m happy. If have the best time, that’s good. If I have the second time, it’s also good. I had a good day and rode very fast. I pushed a lot until I saw Marc and Joan and then I just rode to the finish and didn’t push anymore”. Has comment when he arrives to the finish line.
The battle for the title between Marc Coma and Joan Barreda has expand for the Valencian rider, who now leads with 12 minutes and a half of distance. The Catalan hasn’t felt secure in this stage:
“At the beginning I had a small crash, nothing important. I’m lucky. But it meant that I did not feel comfortable at the beginning of the stage. Then the navigation was also a little bit tricky. I lost some time looking for a way point, but it was nothing dramatic. In the end, I was opening all the day with Joan together, but this is the game. Now we have a rest day in front of us. It will be perfect for the bike and for my body too, to rest a little bit, and then of course to prepare for the marathon stage because we know how tough it will be, with the altitude, with no mechanics and no spare parts, so it’s something that we have to take care about”.
Tomorrow the riders will have an important time-out day.
