Dakar Rally, Stage 13, Nasca to Pisco
Dakar Rally Media - Jan 16, 2012

Hélder Rodrigues may have taken his first stage victory in the 2012 Dakar, but Cyril Despres was the real winner of the 13th special.  

Despres took advantage of Marc Coma's gearbox problems, with the Catalan leading the field and under pressure, to claw back 12'38". Just 24 hours away from the end of the race in Lima, he seized the overall lead with an 11'03" margin over the Catalan.

Rodrigues for the honor, Despres for the win... France's Cyril Despres produced today's star performance, taking advantage of his fourth place in the field and the pressure on Marc Coma, who led the field today and had gearbox problems from km 25 onwards.

The rider who lives in Andorra soon overtook the three pilots ahead of him and took Hélder Rodrigues on his wheel. He piled the pressure on the Catalan and forced him to attack with broken 2nd and 3rd gears, eventually "cracking" him when Coma got lost at km 207.   

Despres offered this in recognizing that Coma will most likely finish the Rally in second place: “I am not the kind of person who derives pleasure from the problems of teammates, and even less when it is Marc Coma who is in trouble. I started with the knife between my teeth, knowing he would do the same thing. I took no risks but tried to gain ground on other riders in turns. At the refuelling station I saw I had clawed back 5 minutes from Marc. I then got lost a couple of times; it was never a big problem but I had to stay focused. Today's stage was psychologically very tough. I always wait until the last day to enjoy things. I have seen so many things happen at the Dakar, and even more today. I want to stay calm and enjoy things a bit more.”

As a result, Rodrigues took his first win in 2012 (fifth career win at the Dakar), while Despres finished second, 47" behind the Portuguese rider but 12'38" ahead of Coma...

With only 29 kilometres to go in the last special on Sunday, Cyril Despres climbed back to the top of the overall classification and will be able to take things carefully in the last stage thanks to his 11'03" margin over the Catalan. Coma is expected to replace his engine this evening, which entails a 45-minute penalty.

Coma reflected on his Stage performance: “I started very fast, as fast as I could, because I knew it would be difficult to stay in the lead of the rally. 25 km into the stage I had a mechanical problem which forced me to slow down. It was a gearbox problem and I feared I would not be able to continue. So I am happy to be here, in second position, which is quite good. I fought throughout the entire rally and gave it everything I had got at all times. That is the way it is. I am disappointed because I was not able to fight until the end.”

Behind him, today's winner Hélder Rodrigues all but sewed up his place on the third step of the final podium with a 29'45" lead over Spain's Jordi Viladoms.