Cyril had to go against the tide to maintain his lead at the 2012 Dakar. Hear how the three-time Dakar champion lost his insole at a crossroads on the Argentinean highway…
I ended the stage having made just 1.2km of mistakes along the route and that’s a very successful day at the Dakar. Considering I opened the stage today and led the way it’s a very pleasing result because the route we took today was a total nightmare for long periods.
All the river beds along the stage were overflowing with water when normally they would be completely dry during this month. This was confusing because there were instructions in the roadbook to follow the river on the left and not the one on the right. I was looking out for these two rivers but when I arrived there were four streams of water! The extra water had created two more rivers so I had to ask myself which one I was supposed to follow. What with having to make decisions like that along a 120km stretch of riverbeds, I’m just happy I could stay on track.
"I think the Dakar has definitely become a much more technical race since it switched to South America"
I’ve actually enjoyed my previous experiences of following riverbeds on rally raids. Normally the route travels straight and you can build up some decent speed. However, on this stage it was nothing like that. The riverbeds twisted and turned every couple of metres and getting my big bike through was exhausting. I think the Dakar has definitely become a much more technical race since it switched to South America.
The finger I smashed up yesterday was still giving me trouble when I was gripping the clutch. The weird thing is that if I was at home I bet it would hurt like hell but because we're now in the Dakar I’m able to cut out the pain and concentrate on the race.
To have a lead of eight minutes after four stages is not a bad result in the early days of the Dakar, so overall I’m very satisfied. I hope to get a visitor later tonight because the insole flew out of my driving boot on the liaison stage and some fans by the side of the road promised me they would find it. I hope they do because I don’t have a spare and losing it will make me feel lopsided on the bike.
Cyril holds a lead of 8m 10s over Marc Coma as he continues his quest for a fourth Dakar title.
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