SUNDERLAND LEADS AS
DAKAR GETS ROLLING
IN
THE
WIND
P48
T
he 40th running of the Dakar
Rally kicked off on Saturday,
January 6 in Lima, Peru, sending
riders off on a 15-day excursion
through South America that will
take them through Peru, Bolivia
and Argentina for a total of nearly
5600 miles. Defending cham-
pion Sam Sunderland of the
factory Red Bull KTM team is off
to a strong start, but will have to
contend with his teammate, 2016
winner Toby Price, along with
FIM Cross-Country Rallies World
Champion Pablo Quintanilla of the
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna team,
and the entire Monster Energy
Honda squad, which is overdue
for a win in the infamous race.
After a brief 18.5-mile stage 1,
riders were set off on grueling
stages 2 and 3, with a 165-mile
timed special on Sunday and
184-mile special on Monday. The
soft sand dunes east of Pisco,
Peru have proved to be both tir-
ing and difficult to navigate, with
warm temperatures adding to the
challenge.
HRC Honda's Joan Barreda
took the opportunity to step
forward in the standings on day
two, taking a commanding win
of nearly three minutes ahead of
Yamaha's Adrien Van Beveren,
moving into the overall lead.
But it proved to be short-lived.
Barreda rode strong as he led
the track through the lengthy
stage-3 special, which contin-
ued riders through the dunes
of Peru, but got lost near the
end. Barreda reportedly missed
a left turn, then doubled back
too far. He eventually reached
the finish nearly 28 minutes
behind Sunderland, who took
the stage win and resumed the
overall lead.
"I lost a lot of time, but it is
like that sometimes when you
open [the course]," Barreda
commented. "It was dangerous
and today I made a big mistake.
I cannot make any more mis-
takes. For sure, it is not easy to
recover this time. But the Dakar
is still long."
Day three was also somewhat
catastrophic for team Yamaha.
Van Beveren lost more than 13
minutes, falling from second
overall to 18th. Both he and
Barreda have serious work to do
to climb back into the top 10.
After a steady and cautious
performance in the first two days
of the race, Toby Price seems
to have hit the throttle on stage
