Ruben Faria was once again the best Portuguese driver at Dakar2016, having finished the 2nd stage, between Villa Carlos Paz and Termas de Rio Hondo, in Argentina, in 2nd place, just 20 seconds behind the winner of the race, the Australian Toby Price ( KTM). In General, both are separated by only 2 seconds. But there is still a lot of Dakar to run.
After a short prologue and a canceled first stage, Dakar2016 really started today, with this 2nd stage, which was quick, without significant navigation difficulties and which turned out to be shorter, ending at CP4.
Toby Price (KTM) was the first to make his mark in the race, with his second victory in a Dakar stage. Fighting in the provisional times, throughout the entire Special, with Ruben Faria, the Australian ended up imposing himself at the end of the stage, grabbing the lead in the overall standings with just two seconds less than his Portuguese rival.
But the KTM rider did not have an easy day, faced with a Ruben Faria who looked very comfortable behind the handlebars of his official Husqvarna.
The Algarve driver still managed to catch up with the first leader of the General, which was the Spaniard Joan Barreda.
Speaking to journalists at the end of Monday's tirade, Ruben Faria said: “Yesterday there was no special stage and it was difficult to make the 540 km connection in heavy rain. Today, I started second, behind Barreda. But I pushed a little and ended up catching him. After that, I ran at a good speed. I don't know what happened, but it was a good step. I have a good feeling with the bike, it behaved very well. We are at the beginning of the race, but I am feeling good».
The Algarve rider also explained that «Toby, coming from behind, ended up benefiting from the road marked by the motorcycles that left in front of him and thus guaranteed the 1st place in the stage».
As for his bike, Ruben says, “Husqvarna is perfect and all the development work we've done in recent months is starting to pay off. We are going to continue with our strategy and manage in the best way this Dakar, which will be very difficult».
In the stage, the Slovakian Stefan Svitko (KTM) was third, at 1.28 minutes.
As for the rest of the Portuguese, Paulo Gonçalves (Honda) made a spectacular recovery of places today, finishing in 6th position, even so far from the podium places that he aspires to.
On the other hand, Helder Rodrigues (Yamaha) was 16th, while the two national drivers who do not race in official teams of brands, Mário Patrão and Pedro Bianchi Prata, were, respectively, 32nd and 57th.
Motorbike General is now commanded by Australian Toby Price, with just 2 seconds less than Portuguese Ruben Faria. Gonçalves is 7th, Rodrigues 15th, Patrão 32nd and Bianchi Prata 56th.
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