Ninth stage of the 2013 Dakar: San Miguel de Tucumán - Córdoba

Today stage 9 of the 2013 Dakar takes place, after yesterday’s rest day. It’s time to get back into action for all the participants, with today’s stage running between San Miguel de Tucumán and Córdoba. It is a fairly long stage where the outcome of this 2013 edition will begin to be decided.

Specifically, we have a 259-kilometre liaison stage and a 593-kilometre special. It will be one of the most interesting stages, especially for the trucks; for our motorcycle riders it will be a complicated and very tough day.

The motorcycle category will see a longer distance, partly due to a much more technical section that has been added, where the riders will have to think hard and concentrate so as not to get lost, and also to avoid all the obstacles on the route, especially the trees. A stage with very complex, twisting and highly interesting conditions.

Today we face the longest special stage of the event, the toughest in the world, so it could be decisive for this edition. We will see what happens with the current leader, David Casteu, and his closest pursuers: on one hand Despres, who for now has not received a penalty for the engine change but is second and has many chances of winning the title, while the third position in the overall standings is currently held by Ruben Faria.

Our riders have had many difficulties in these last stages, but in the marathon we had our Barreda in action. It’s a pity that the Husqvarna rider had those problems at the start of the race, because now he could be fighting for a higher position.

Maximum excitement.

Photo | Dakar official