AREQUIPA (PERU): A heady mix of dunes, rocks, mountains and early morning fog led to a tricky waypoint which proved to be the bane of most riders on Stage 3 of Dakar 2019 on Wednesday. Many top contenders, across sections, lost their way as the
topsy-turvy
stage brought about a change in the overall standings. Pablo Quintanilla (08h 34m 28s) of Husqvarna Factory
Racing
managed to hold fort and climbed a place to emerge the overall leader on bike at the completion of 798 kilometers of the race.
The other rider who seemed to be riding his bike on a different terrain in the third stage was
Oriol Mena
. Though his fellow Hero MotoSports riders CS Santosh and Joaquim
Rodrigues
suffered setbacks in the stage, Mena managed to catch all the waypoints on the way to finish 12th overall and eighth in the third stage to raise visions of a second successive top-10 finish.
The Spanish rider said his cautious approach in the stage paid dividends. “Today was a really tough stage, the kind that we know Dakar for. Conditions were difficult and navigation was also quite tricky. So I decided to ride with caution today, trying to avoid any mistakes. I am happy with the result today and the way bike is performing,” said Mena.
However, both Santosh and Rodrigues couldn’t sustain their efforts in the first two stages as they suffered time setbacks. Rodrigues lost time at the beginning of the stage and missed the waypoint. Yet, the Portuguese driver finished 31st in the overall standings (46th in stage 3).
It wasn’t a great day for Indian rider Santosh as he met with a few crashes for the first time in Dakar this year. He also missed the same waypoint that his teammate Rodrigues missed and finished 42nd (64 in stage 3). But the good thing for Santosh was that despite not having a great day, he managed to cross the finish line. “It was an extremely difficult stage, throwing a fair share of challenges. I had the wrong lens for today’s stage and it set me up for the struggle for most of the first part. So I decided to ride without goggles which was really difficult to do. But I am glad to have seen the back of it and still be in the race,” Santosh said.
Meanwhile, TVS Racing’s KP Aravind continues to lag behind as he is at 61st spot but is holding good to be in the Dakar after Stage 3.
The Dakar will now have a marathon stage and the riders will have to fend for themselves.
Provisional Overall Results after Stage 3
1. Pablo Quintanilla Husqvarna g 08h 34m 28s
2. Kevin Benavides Honda +11m 23s
3. Sam Sunderland KTM +12m 12s
12. Oriol Mena Hero Motosports +36m 03s
31. Joaquim Rodrigues Hero Motosports +02h 12m 03s
42. C S Santosh Hero Motosports +02h 44m 20s
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