The punishing seventh stage of the Dakar 2018, which saw the riders traverse a stretch of 727 kilometers from La Paz to Uyuni with a ‘special’ of 425 kilometers. Following this, the eighth stage was yet another challenging stretch spanning across a distance of 585 kilometers from Uyuni to Tupiza with a ‘special’ of 498 kilometers.
Labelled as the most difficult stage of Dakar 2018, the eighth stage involved the longest ‘special’ and was made further challenging due to unprecedented rains on the Bolivian Plateau coupled with sections which were at an altitude of over 4,800 meters with sand dunes at 3500 m above sea level in the mountains.
Having spent a night at Uyuni without assistance, the competitors started the leg 2 of the Marathon stage from Uyuni to Tupiza for the longest stage of the Dakar Rally. The riders had to make a total run of 498 km in the special stage followed by an 87 km liaison section.
After the eighth stage, the top runner from among the Indian teams was Hero Motorsports Team Rally’s Oriol Mena who has consistently been finishing within the top 20. Finishing the eighth stage special at 12th position, he managed to take the 18th spot overall.
“Today was a good day for me. My body was feeling good and I started the stage really well. For this stage I decided to ride with my full potential and finish the stage without any major mistakes. I did lose may be 20s in one small navigation error but it was ok as I reached the finish line and my bivouac in good time. So one day more gone and now one day less to Cordoba” said Mena.
Following him closely is Joan Pedrero from Sherco TVS Factory Rally Team who finished the stage at 30th position and stands at 20th position in overall rankings.
“It was a very complicated stage today,” said David Casteu, Team Manager, Sherco TVS Factory Rally Team, “There was a lot of mud, Joan got stuck in the mud 10 km from the finish. It’s a shame because he was having a very nice stage. Fortunately, our mechanics were able to intervene and provide him with assistance, and Joan was able to finish.”
Hero Motorsports Team Rally’s CS Santosh continued his steady run and finished the tough marathon stage at 38th position, which lands him at 42nd place overall. “I think this Marathon stage was the hardest I have ever done. It was incredibly difficult as we did 80 km off-piste and the camel grass. I was physically drained with the high altitude riding and also crashed a couple of times. By the time I reached the marathon bivouac I had nothing left in me. This morning we had the longest stage of the Dakar which was tough again. Happy to be back here with the team, I missed these guys. Now we got a lucky break tomorrow and then we go racing all the way to Cordoba” said Santosh.
Stage 9 of the Dakar Rally has been cancelled due to excessive rains the region has witnessed over the past few days. Overflowing rivers are expected to pose grave dangers to the competitors and hence the organizers decided to call off the stage. However the riders and the rally will still need to cross the borders to move into Argentina on to their next bivouac at Salta, while covering the longest liaison section of the Dakar. The Rally will resume from Salta to Belen (Argentina) on January 16, 2018.
Overall Provisional Classifications after Stage 8
1. Adrien Van Beveren Yamaha Factory Racing 27h 22m 03s
2. Kevin Benavides Honda Factory Racing +00m 22s
3. Mathias Walkner Redbull KTM Racing +06m 34s
18. Oriol Mena Hero MotoSports Team Rally +01h 42m 57s
20. Juan Pedrero Garcia Sherco TVS Rally Factory + 01h 55m 28s
42. C.S. Santosh Hero MotoSports Team Rally +07h 19m 21s