Today the riders faced the second part of the marathon stage, the 12th day of the competition offered 376 kilometers in total, 191 km of liaison and 185 km of special stage, with a route similar to that of stage 11, consisting of numerous strands of long dunes with soft sand, but not too dangerous for the riders. A fun time for the competitors to enjoy surfing on them.
Daniel Nosiglia enjoyed a good stage, riding the entire special alone. The Bolivian was the 20th fastest of the day, once again riding among the fastest riders of this edition and finished 5'57" behind the stage winner. Daniel is still 26th overall.
Of course, fatigue is taking a toll on the rider, and Diego Llanos, who continues in the top ten of the in Rally2, was also riding alone in the special and suffered a blow to his right arm. Fortunately for the Argentinean, nothing serious, so he was able to start again and finish 27th in the overall classification in today's stage.
Patricio Cabrera is experiencing a spectacular evolution on the rally, proof of this is that today he managed to finish 37th, his best stage result since the Dakar started. Thanks to this he climbs two positions in the provisional general standings and is already 40th.
#54 Dani Nosiglia:
"Stage 12 was quite fast, with a lot of dune crossings and open desert. It was a stage in which I felt super good, I rode alone from start to finish, which meant that my pace was not the best, but I'm happy all the same because we had another very good day, we are very close to the times of the top riders."
#29 Diego Llanos:
"It was a relatively short day, 180 kilometers of special stage after spending the night in the marathon stage. I felt good, I rode the whole special alone, without having any reference of rhythm neither in front nor behind and I had to push alone, at kilometer 170 I suffered a blow to my right arm, but I was able to finish. Now we only have the two last stages tomorrow and the day after, so I'm mentally focused on finishing".
#35 Pato Cabrera:
"The famous Empty Quarter, very entertaining, truth be told. Two days of sand, where it was important to take care of the bike and make solid stages, since it was marathon. So not much to say, happy to have arrived in good health, the bike is going smoothly, and I feel great physically, so I'm ready for what's coming. There's not much left but two stages are still a long way to go, so we're going to be smart. Now let's prepare the bike well and finish the Dakar on a good note".
Stage 13, the penultimate stage, from Shaybah to Al-Hofuf, 675 km with a long liaison of 521 km and a very short special stage of 154 km. Last stage to enjoy or "suffer" the dune strands, testing the physical and mental strength of the participants who will be one step away from achieving their goal of reaching the finish line of the Dakar 2023 next Sunday, with only 2 stages and 290 km of special stages to go.
*It is important to note that due to the fact that the classifications suffer last-minute changes by the organization, these may differ from those published.
