Great day for the Rieju Team riders who have completed a new loop around Ha'il, on the occasion of the fifth stage of the Dakar of 643 kilometers, 373 of special stage and 270 of liaison, a terrain composed almost entirely of sand, with many dunes and the treacherous camel grass. After this area, the riders entered a more open space, but with more dunes to surf, a physically hard day again.
Despite losing a lot of time in yesterday's stage due to mechanical problems, which fortunately he was able to repair on the track, Dani Nosiglia today went out with the desire to push hard and try to recover time, in a positive day in which he overcame some obstacles inherent to the competition. Nosiglia crossed the finish line in 28th position on the stage, recovering up to six places from yesterday's provisional general classification, to move up to 31st.
With a solid and consistent performance yesterday, Sandra Gomez was able to improve her classification, today she has continued this upward line to continue progressing, finishing this stage in a very good 45th position overall and again has overtaken her rival, so she regains the first position among the women. Now in the provisional general classification, Sandra climbs to 57th place and increases her advantage as leader of the women's classification by almost an hour over the second.
Patricio Cabrera continues with his meteoric rise in positions thanks to the good results he is getting in the last stages, today he finished 39th, and in the provisional overall ranking he climbs seven positions and is placed 48th.
Diego Llanos yesterday had serious problems with gasoline as many pilots, due to the fact that the fuel provided by the organization had water, causing mechanical problems. Diego was one of the most affected because he could not solve it on the track and unfortunately he was out of the competition. Today he was able to rejoin the race despite not counting for the final classification. The Argentinian, starting last, was able to overtake many competitors, finishing this fifth stage in 26th position, while in Rally2 he was the 8th fastest.
#54 Dani Nosiglia:
"It has been a complicated stage too, super physically demanding, very happy, I came from quite far back recovering a bit, I had a couple of problems at the end of the stage that delayed me quite a bit, I got stuck in a dune because I had to dodge a car that had flipped over and I lost some time, but well, I'm happy to be here and to have finished stage five, now to rest for everything that remains."
#56 Sandra Gómez:
"I'm dead... I went out and rode for a while with the quads, even the helicopter was right next to us and was filming us, very cool!!! At km 50 or so, I caught a group that I knew was going well, we were three or four all the time, and we were changing positions to keep pushing, and it went well. Diego Llanos passed me like a rabbit, he was jumping all the time, with cut dunes, I got behind him but I said... no, no, no, no, too much."
#35 Patricio Cabrera:
"Another very demanding day with more than 10 hours on the bike, this is what we came for. How beautiful is the Dakar we are living! Today was a 100% sand day, I didn't have any problems and I felt very comfortable, finishing 39th overall and 19th in my category."
#29 Diego Llanos:
"Happy, we started last of the bikes and quads, we were able to overtake quite a lot at the end of the special, a hard stage, a lot of sand during the whole route, I didn't feel very comfortable, I did what I could, then, during the refueling my camelback broke and I went for 160km without water, I felt my body become incredibly dehydrated. But we are already in the paddock, happy and healthy, the bike has responded well, so never mind it now, let's give it our all tomorrow!”
In Saudi Arabia, the exciting and tough Dakar rally continues, with the sixth special stage between Ha'il and Al Duwadimi, featuring the longest day, a 409 km liaison and the longest special stage of 467 km, which will start on fast tracks, to change halfway through the route to the dunes.
*It is important to note that due to the fact that the classifications are subject to last-minute changes by the organization, these may differ from those published.
