The eighth stage of the Dakar Rally 2015 in the motorcycle category saw the riders set off from Uyuni, Bolivia, after a freezing cold night at 4,000km, on the second half of the marathon stage which ended up back in Iquique, Chile.
While the car and truck drivers geared up for tomorrow's stage on their rest day, the riders put their foot on the throttle as they passed through the famous Uyuni salt plains, tackled technical mountain terrain and took on 40km of torturous sand dunes.
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Dakar 2015 Stage 9 Video Highlights
Highlights from stage 9 of the 2015 Dakar Rally
Bikes: Quintanilla grabs victory
KTM rider Pablo Quintanilla took his maiden Dakar stage victory on home soil after proving too quick for the chasing pack over the sand dunes section.
Czech rider Stefan Svitko set the pace early on and lead at the 378km mark with Juan Pedrero in close attendance but the Chilean proved a class apart as the competitors approached Iquique.
Quintanilla now sits third in the overall standings with Svitko’s strong performance also lifting him into the top five.
The other notable performance came from Laia Sanz, who finished just over two and a half minutes behind the stage winner to claim her first ever top five finish.
The special was marked by horrendous conditions with several riders suffering hypothermia and altitude sickness.
It was an all together more difficult stage for Joan Barreda who saw his overall lead disintegrate before his very eyes. After 378km, the Spaniard had already lost an hour and a half to main rival Marc Coma and things did not improve as his chances of Dakar glory continued to slip away.
After suffering mechanical issues, the HRC frontrunner had to be towed by Jeremias Israel, which has left Coma, who secured another solid result in ninth, at the top of the classification with a lead of over nine minutes to nearest challenger Paulo Gonçalves. Barreda now lies in tenth in the overall standings.
Stage Eight Classification: 1. Pablo Quintanilla (KTM), 2h 56m 19s 2. Juan Pedrero Garcia (Yamaha), +11s 3. Stefan Svitko (KTM), +12s 4. Toby Price (KTM), +41s 5. Laia Sanz Pla-Giribert (Honda), +2m 36s
Provisional Standings: 1. Marc Coma (KTM), 28h 51m 12s 2. Paulo Gonçalves (Honda), +9m 11s 3. Pablo Quintanilla (KTM), +11m 11s 4. Toby Price (KTM), +15m 56s 5. Stefan Svitko (KTM), +26m 30s
Marc Coma:
It was such a difficult day. Crossing the salt plains was so difficult. You had to contend with so much on top of the altitude and the cold.
What’s important is that another day is behind us, let’s wait and see what the Dakar has left to throw at us.
Laia Sanz:
It was great result because it was so tough. Things just went well for me.
I found myself in third position coming into the dunes but Toby and Pablo passed me. Either way, I’m very happy with fifth.
Cars and Trucks: No rest for the wicked
It may go down as a rest day in the official schedule, but for the car and truck competitiors including Team Peugeot-Total's Stephane Peterhansel and Cyril Despres, it was far from it. After eight intense and energy-sapping stages, resting was just one of a number of items on the to-do list.
When the terrain and conditions aren't asking questions of them, the world's travelling media is and of course then there are the all-important team briefings to attend. The rest day presents the best opportunity to talk over plans and strategies for the remander of the rally. Any time left over is spent with the physiotherapist in an attempt to ease those niggling aches and pains that have taken their toll on the drivers' bodies.
Before they know it, they'll back behind the wheel and taking on what the Dakar's got left in store for them over the final stages!
Stage 9: Tuesday January 13
Iquique - Calama
Connection: 88km, Special: 451km
It’s goodbye Atacama desert, hello more unforgiving terrain! Once the competitors have overcome 50km of gruelling sand dunes, it’s on to yet more weathered routes with plenty of potholes and bumps. Add in the challenge of narrow tracks and everyone will have to have total focus to avoid any damage to their machinery. However, big time gains are not out of the question.
- Watch more Dakar Rally videos on Red Bull TV.
- Like trucks on sand? How about trucks on snow? Catch up with what went down in Red Bull Frozen Rush this weekend.
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