Stage 9 Iquique to Calama Those who wilted on the marathon stage will not have time to recover. With 451km leaving the Atacama desert the stage has about 50km of sand and dunes, but the rest is tough potholes, bumps and narrow sections. While David will not be pushing, his consistency could result in tiring competitors making mistakes and allowing him to gain time on those around him. While Davids position in the stage was lower than he would have hoped, he did the main thing, which was to finish. The wet salt water took out a number of bikes ahead of him. (There were 15 withdrawals) His P36 overall now puts him with two riders to watch. 35 60 CABRERA (CHL) KAW 36:38:47 07:47:35 36 103 REEVE (ZMB) KTM 36:39:06 07:47:54 37 65 VD GOORBERGH (NLD) KTM 36:43:20 07:52:08 JvdG has caught up and with Cabrera just seconds ahead, these places could swop around just on normal riding ability. JvdG will be very tired by now as he is Malle Moto. Tracking yesterday was as haphazard as it could be, hopefully today the data will flow more readily. When the start order is posted, David will be further back than normal. As a result, he will need to do a bit of overtaking even if he just stays on his normal place. The riders who have jumped ahead due to the levelling of the salt pan stage, should return to their normal placings. By the end of the stage we would expect him to be in the low 40s if there are no field disrupting obstacles. They kick off with a short run to the start and finish with another short run, so the leaders should be busy between 12h20 CAT and 17h00. We may have to stay attentive until about 19h00.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 05:58:40 +0000
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