Dakar Rally - Stage 7 results
Dakar Rally Media - Jan 10, 2011

Stage Winner: Francisco Lopez Contardo followed by Cyril Despres, Marc Coma, Helder Rodrigues and Ruben Faria.

Fifty riders have withdrawn. Withdrawn riders were on 15 Yamahas, 13 KTMs, 6 Hondas, 5 BETAs, 4 BMWs, 3 Aprilias, 2 Kawasakis, and 1 each Bultaco and Husquarna.

In a shortened 273 km special stage, Chilean rider Francisco Lopez managed – with his Aprilia bike – to achieve best time for the first time this year, which brings him slightly closer to Coma and Despres. It is the third consecutive stage that escapes the two KTM riders…

He sure took his time this year. Since the Dakar has been taking place on home turf, “Chaleco” never waited for too long to thrill his supporters. But this year, victory had so far been eluding the Aprilia leader who nearly won the stage in Iquique finishing right behind Gonçalves. This year, Lopez had been feeling so great, easy like never before, for instance with navigation which is normally not his forte. His Italian 450cc having now demonstrated its reliability, both in terms of performance and sturdiness, all the conditions were there to see Lopez roar out of the box.

So it is in Antofagasta, one of the cities where he already won honorary citizenship in the past that the man achieved his fifth victory in a Dakar. In order to make sure he would win this one, the Chilean rider was very tidy; he cleared km 176 with more than 4' lead over Coma. Upon arrival, he finished with a 2'21'' margin, a glorious day of fame and a small jump closer to the top of the standings where he is still 3rd, 18'27'' behind the Catalan rider.

The 273 km on the menu of the day did not really change things between both KTM riders, although the day made them both realize the “Chaleco” threat is a pretty serious one. Coma remains in the lead 7'24'' ahead of Despres who closed the gap a bit today. Both men know that such a short lead can be destroyed any day by a mechanical problem or by a dodgy navigation decision.

By the way, the gaps separating the winner and second at the end of a Dakar are often more in the vicinity of the hour than of the minute. We have to go back to the 2005 edition of the Dakar to see a title won with a less-than-10-minute lead. A bit further down the ranks, the good news finally came from Pal-Anders Ullevalseter who ended with the 8th fastest time of the day and is back in the Top 10. As for Jonah Street, he is on the way out of the leadership, falling more than an hour behind Coma at CP3 (km 192) after having had to stop for an engine failure. David Casteu is already pretty far down the ranks, but trouble seems to be the daily bread of the Sherco rider, who also had to spend a long time repairing off trail.