Dakar Rally Stage 13, and final, results
Dakar Rally Media - Jan 17, 2011

The Stage winner was Frans Verhoeven followed by Helder Rodrigues, Jean De Azevedo, Cyril Desprees and Marc Coma.

Overall winner was Marc Coma followed by Cyril Despres, Helder Rodrigues, Francisco Lopez Contardo, and Juan Pedrero Garcia.

On this last special stage, Cordoba to Buenos Aires, of the Personal Dakar Argentina Chile, Marc Coma reached his third Dakar victory by keeping Cyril Despres under control. The easy route turned into a nightmare for “Chaleco” who lost a third place on the podium and in the standings to Helder Rodrigues due to mechanical breakdowns.

Avoid trembling was the motto of the day. En route to Santiago de Baradero, Marc Coma started with more than 16' lead in the general standings on his long-term contender Cyril Despres. The risk of seeing this lead go to waste for titleholder was almost nil for the titleholder, so the big challenge of this special stage was to stay focused. On the long straight stretches of trail, the Catalan who was opening the road went in clean and fast. Despres could only follow and was never able to catch up with the expected winner. The leader of the general standings since stage 4 only had to keep his opponent under control and only lost 1'30 to Despres on the finish line of the stage. The total time gap between the two men in the standings is 15'04''; finishing second, Despres will have a hard time coming to terms with the 10' lost for a silly penalty.

As for Coma, he can claim “paternity” of the perfect race: his riding craft brings him a third Dakar victory, the same number of final victories as Despres.

Coma reflects; "Staying focused was essential so I did focus on my riding. It was the only way to win. What was really tough was that I could not let my guard down, not even for a second. When a tough was ending, the next one was even tougher. We all know that a Dakar is a difficult race but this year it was particularly difficult. This victory is the reward of all the hard work, the reward of many years and a lot of tensions over the last few days. It is the bonus you get for steering right and for so many sacrifices over the years. I have to pay tribute to all the people in my team, who supported me. We had ambitious goals and to reach them we had to have the best, people made for the Dakar and willing to all work towards the same goal. As anyone in the Dakar, we had tough times. So I am going to get some rest and think about the future. Because, truth is that with the race and the permanent tension I did not have time to think about anything else in a long time."

The third place on the podium seemed to be promised to Chilean rider Francisco Lopez, who had also finished third last year. With a 43-minute lead on his closest pursuant it was a sure deal. Unfortunately, fate hit hard on “Chaleco” who broke the rear shock absorber of his bike on km 159, i.e. just 22 km shy of the end. On the finish line, Helder Rodrigues, who just made the second fastest time of the special stage, just 5'' behind Verhoeven is counting the minutes. Despite the help of Alain Duclos, who is now towing his leader, “Chaleco” only crossed the finish line at 13:23. Much too late – actually 29 minutes too late – to save his third place now occupied by the Portuguese rider. After Aprilia in 2010, it is therefore a Yamaha bike that finishes right behind the two lead KTM bikes. For Rodrigues, who finished 4th last year, it is a dream come true.