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--  -- Dakar 2013, 10th Stage, Cordoba – La Rioja - 636 km stage (398 miles) including 357 km special test On completion of a superb battle with the title holder, Joan Barreda picked up his 4th stage victory on the 2013 edition, 1'15 ahead of Cyril Despres. In the general standings, the Frenchman took regained command ahead of his team-mate Ruben Faria, who finished the day in 8th place. In the car category, Argentinean Orlando Terranova won his 1st stage victory, while Stéphane Peterhansel, 3rd today, again increased his lead at the top of the general standings. As the first to get to grips with the 357 km of the 10th stage, Cyril Despres opened the road all day along the special's tracks, attacking throughout, but avoiding taking major risks on a terrain similar to the type encountered in endurance races, even though it was quick, technically demanding and especially physically tiring. Just behind him on the tracks, Joan Barreda again proved to be the only rider able to compete with the title holder's pace. At the end of the day, after a major attack at the end of the special stage, the Spaniard was victorious, 1'15 ahead of Despres and 2'44 in front of his team-mate Paulo Gonçalves. The Portuguese rider, hero of the day having repaired the machine of his team-mate Botturi, after the Italian fell, confirmed the speed of the Husqvarna bikes as they put 3 machines in the day's top 6. However, in the general standings, KTM are dominant because the Austrian brand has taken advantage of Botturi's misfortunes to occupy the first 4 places of the top 5! What's more, the title holder, Cyril Despres, regained the lead of the general standings, 1'37 ahead of his water carrier Ruben Faria, 8th today, 8'15 behind the stage winner. Still ready to spring an ambush, Chaleco Lopez remains 3rd, 13'41 behind the Frenchman and 4'40 ahead of Slovakian Ivan Jakes. Lastly, Alessandro Botturi, the leading Husqvarna rider in the general standings, now occupies fifth place, 24'25 behind the rally leader and 9'54 in front of sixth placed Helder Rodrigues, the best placed Honda rider. In the quad category, Lukasz Laskawiec grabbed a 2nd stage victory, 1'35'' ahead of Ignacio Casale and 3'23 in front of Rafal Sonik, whilst Marcos Patronelli started to defend his lead in the general standings, making do with the day's 6th best time, 6'16 behind the day's winner. In fact, the 2010 winner still sits comfortably in the lead, 1:27'47 ahead of Casale and 2:05'51 in front of Sonik. 2013 Dakar Rally Stage 10 Results - Cordoba to La Rioja: total distance 636 km – timed special 357 km 1. Joan Barreda, ESP (Husq) 4:43:14 2. Cyril Despres, FRA (KTM) 4:44:29 3. Paulo Goncalves, PRT (Husq) 4:45:58 4. Joan Pedrero, ESP (KTM) 4:47:41 5. Kurt Caselli, USA (KTM) 4:50:10 6. Ivan Jakes, SVK (KTM) 4:51:17 7. Alessandro Botturi, ITA (Husq) 4:51:19 8. Ruben Faria, PRT (KTM) 4:51:29 9. Helder Rodrigues, PRT (Honda) 4:52:48 10. Frans Verhoeven, NLD (Yamaha) 4:53:38 12. Michael Metge, FRA (Yamaha) 4:54:13 23. Olivier Pain, FRA (Yamaha) 5:08:08 2013 Dakar Rally Overall Standings after Stage 10: 1. Cyril Despres (KTM) 30:47:04 2. Ruben Faria (KTM) 30:48:41 3. Chaleco Lopez (KTM) 31:00:45 4. Ivan Jakes (KTM) 31:05:25 5. Alessandro Botturi (Husq) 31:11:29 6. Helder Rodrigues (Honda) 31:21:23 7. Stefan Svitko (KTM) 31:26:26 8. Joan Pedrero (KTM) 31:27:22 9. Oliver Pain (Yamaha) 31:34:06 10. Israel Esquerre (Honda) 31:34:10 13. Frans Verhoeven (Yamaha) 31:46:49 20. Michael Metge (Yamaha) 32:50:06 Aussies Overall 16 FAGGOTTER (AUS) 123 YAMAHA 32:12:21 1:25:17 - 19 GRABHAM (AUS) 57 KTM 32:47:55 2:00:51 0:15:00 31 STRANGE (AUS) 131 HONDA 34:10:51 3:23:47 0:15:00 39 SMITH (AUS) 156 HONDA 35:12:51 4:25:47 0:15:00 64 PAVEY (AUS) 51 HUSQVARNA 38:15:02 7:27:58 0:15:00 128 FISH (AUS) 39 HUQSVARNA 55:14:25 24:27:21 9:15:00 -- KTM Report - Despres & Faria 1-2 overall after Dakar Stage 10 Red Bull KTM factory rider and title-holder Cyril Despres fought a close battle with Spaniard Joan Barreda in Stage 10 of the Dakar 2013 to finish just one minute 15 behind his rival. The French rider now to secure a narrow lead in the overall standings in front of factory teammate Ruben Faria of Portugal, who secured eighth place in the stage. Despres, who is now looking settled and determined to go for his fifth Dakar title made the breakthrough on Monday when he won the longest stage in this year’s edition after an eventful first half of the rally. But he was quick to brush off suggestions that his luck had changed and told journalists it was much more “..about experience and preparation and training and bringing all the right elements together at the right moment”. Speaking of Tuesday’s stage Despres said it was at ‘cruising pace’. “With a motivated Joan Barreda on my tail, you can't slow down. I managed to keep the pace. The bike again worked well and suffered less than yesterday. The selective side is what makes the Dakar different and stand out when compared to all the other rallies. Picking up seconds in the general standings is not the most important thing. What matters is making statements, making a difference, gaining in confidence and letting the racing do the talking.” KTM factory teammate Joan Pedrero also delivered a strong performance in Tuesday’s 357 km timed special on the road from Cordoba to La Rioja in Argentina to finish in fourth place just four minutes 27 behind the stage leader. The team's Dakar rookie Kurt Caselli also delivered another great stage, finishing in fifth place - just under seven minutes behind Pedrero. The American trails in the overall standings after picking up a total of 3 hours 20 in penalties for missing checkpoints and waypoints in Stage Seven but continues to deliver impressive stage results. Despres as Monday’s stage winner was charged with opening the road that offered Enduro-like terrain that was technically demanding, fast and physically tiring coming off the longest stage in the 2013 edition the previous day. And while the French rider kept a narrow lead for most of the special, Barreda was always close behind and made his attack in the latter part of the day’s times ride. The KTM riders and machines are now looking very good in the overall standings with Chilean rider ‘Chaleco’ Lopez in overall third place with a deficit of 13 minutes 41 and Slovak Ivan Jakes (KTM) in fourth overall. Riders in the KTM factory B Team – Riaan Van Niekerk (South Africa), ‘Kuba’ Przygonski (Poland) and Darryl Curtis (South Africa) are currently fourteenth, fifteenth and eighteenth respectively. With the longest parts of the rally already under their wheels, riders face just 221 of timed special in Wednesday’s Stage Eleven with a total ride of 483 km that takes them from La Rioja to Fiambala on the Argentinean side of the Andes where they will again prepare for the attack on the dreaded Atacama Desert in Chile as the rally caravan heads back over the mountains towards the Pacific for the final push at the end of the week to the finish at Santiago. Team manager Alex Doringer said that riders and teams were suffering from the extreme heat up to 43 degrees Celsius and warned that Wednesday's stage will be hard for all. "Navigation will be very difficult and this is a stage that will be tough on both the riders and the bikes," he said. -- Husky Report Joan Barreda wins the tenth stage of the Dakar, from Cordoba-La Rioja with a special test of 357 km. With this, his fourth stage victory, the rider who hails from Castellon, Spain, becomes the most honoured rider so far in the competition. Joan on his Husqvarna TE449RR by Speedbrain showed once again that not only did he have the speed but also the skill to dominate every type of terrain. Barreda, who started behind Despres this morning, eased his way through the course, catching up with Cyril Despres near the end of the special test. Paulo Goncalves, took the podium in third 2:44 minutes behind Joan after having fought back from seventh position at this morning’s start-line. Alessandro Botturi, was unlucky with his seventh place finish after spending most of the special up in third position, but a fall hampered his progress and he dropped down to seventh, finishing 8:05 minutes behind his winning team-mate. However, Alessandro remains in fifth overall place 24:25 minutes behind leader Despres in the overall leader-board. Tomorrow sees the much feared La Rioja – Fiambalà stage with some 483 km special test and scorching temperatures expected. Joan Barreda: "Today I’m really pleased with my fourth victory in this Dakar. I rode very well today, very cleanly and didn’t take any risks once the special got going". Paulo Goncalves: "I was ready to attack right from the word go, but I had a lot of trouble trying to get past Ruben and Ivan. It was a great day nevertheless. It was a really enjoyable stage to ride, almost like an enduro course with all the different types of ground". Alessandro Botturi: “I was in third place until halfway through the special, and I felt great, but then I hit a rock as I took a curve, lost my balance and fell. I hurt my pinky quite badly, I hope that it’s not broken". -- Yamaha Report Dutch Yamaha Netherlands Verhoeven Team rider Frans Verhoeven took another step closer to the top ten riders today, moving two places up the overall standings to 13th. The tenth stage of the Dakar Rally saw Verhoeven tackling a very tight and twisty special, a 357km run from Cordoba to La Rioja. The Dutch rider kept a good pace whilst trying to avoid dizziness from the incredible number of tight turns on the course, completing the day’s stage in tenth place. The result brings him to a 59 minute gap to first place. Previous Rally leader Olivier Pain has struggled over the last two days to repeat his form of prior to the rest day, the Yamaha France rider wrapping up today’s stage in 22nd place to drop to ninth in the overall standings, 47 minutes from first. Fellow Frenchman and Team Casteu Yamaha Racing France rider David Casteu’s Dakar came to a disappointing end yesterday after a collision with a cow during the stage. Casteu received a shoulder injury and also damage to the bike. He was able to continue after having his shoulder strapped however damage to the fuel tank caused by the crash caused a loss of fuel, eventually resulting in a forced retirement some 30km from the end of the stage. Yamaha Racing Argentina rider Marcos Patronelli continues to hold a comfortable lead of over an hour in the standings. Patronelli wrapped up today’s tenth stage in second place, just one minute from the front, denying the competition any chance to gain a serious time advantage. “You had to be very careful and concentrate all the time today,” commented Frans Verhoeven. “There were thousands of turns, Nasty short ones, hairpins and very tight turns that kept on going. It was like a rollercoaster. It made me dizzy! I knew I had to ride clean and fast, but not too fast. I overtook Johnny Campbell, but let Kurt Caselli pass me as we can ride well together. We closed in on Duclos and Svitko before the refueling. I crossed the river at one point and it looked nice and even but almost at the other side there was a hole. Everything got wet from my suit up to my glasses.” -- HRC Report It was another long day for the Team HRC riders in the mountainous region that links Cordoba to La Rioja. Riders tackled first the rocky narrow tracks, like enduro racing, reaching almost 2,000 meters before dropping back down to 357 meters in La Rioja where the thermometer registered 50 degrees. All in all it was a technical and varied stage with twisty tracks mixed with fast hard pack paths. Starting 5th, Helder Rodrigues rode consistently in the first part of the stage and lost some time in the final section eventually finishing 9th, 09’34” behind stage winner Joan Barreda, who claimed his 4th Dakar stage victory. Argentinian Javier Pizzolito started 27th and fought against the dust, enabling him to recover positions once the track was clear, finishing 14th. It was a hard day for Johnny Campbell, who rode for 8 hours despite the intense pain due to yesterday’s injuries, complicated by another crash while crossing a river where the ground was particularly slippery. With 4 stages still to go, the race is still open and Helder Rodrigues gained another position in the overall standings and is now sitting in 6th place, 34’19” behind Cyril Despres who leads the general classification. Also Javier Pizzolito moves one position up, from 12th to 11th and the same for Johnny Campbell from 52nd to 51st. Helder Rodrigues, SS10 9th +9’34”, 6th overall: “It was a varied stage with some twisty paths in the mountains followed by some fast tracks with several dangers that were not signalled in the road book. I think starting 9th is not bad for tomorrow as it will be a sandy and more technical stage”. Javier Pizzolito, SS10 14th +12’56”, 11th overall: “I was slowed by the dust till km 100, then I managed to pass a couple of riders and with a clear path I was able to push till the end, gaining some positions”. Johnny Campbell SS10 21st +23’00”, 51st overall: “I would have liked to be on top form for today because the scenery was great. I liked the nice twisty mountain trail, but I was still suffering from yesterday’s injuries. Things got more complicated when I lost the bike crossing a river bed where the ground was very slippery. I tried to regain some strength in the liaison but riding for 8 hours is very demanding especially when you are not 100% and I had a lot of pain in my ribs”. -- Ben Grabham Report Dakar rookie Ben Grabham’s outstanding run in the world’s biggest and toughest off-road race suffered its first real setback with a rear brake failure in the 10th Stage between Córdoba and La Rioja in Argentina. On a rally bike in the twisty WRC-style conditions of the Argentinean stages, the rear brake assumes tremendous importance, so the HSE Motorex KTM Desert Racing Team rider had to call upon his best work to limit the damage, still finishing 41st for the day. As a result the overall damage was minimal and Grabham lost just one place falling to 19th in the Motorcycle category. “Fifteen kilometres into today's Special Ben lost the rear brake,” said Team Manager Garry Connell, “so he was not able to brake-steer or pull up as quickly as normal which meant he had to work very hard to minimise the time lost. “It’s frustrating after working into such a good start position on day 9 - slipping won’t help the start order for tomorrow and Ben will have to make his way past a number of slower riders in tomorrow's Fiambala stage.” With its contoured white sand peaks and basins, Fiambala is typically the hardest stage of the rally with very soft dunes, canyons with deep fesh fesh and 40°c-plus temperatures. Joan Barreda Bort won his fourth Stage today, ahead of France’s Cyril Despres and Portuguese Paolo Goncalves, with Despres reclaiming the overall lead. -- GHR Honda Report Today's stage between Córdoba and La Rioja was the last in the Argentine mountains for this year's Dakar and the special more closely resembled an enduro or WRC stage than postcard Dakar dune country. Still, it was heavy duty exercise from the outset on the riders' bulky, fuel laden machines. Meandering soil tracks flanked by dense scrub wore down even the fittest athletes as they negotiated blind corners at speed for near on 5 hours. River crossings offered fleeting moments of respite from the stinking heat and dust but tacked yet another hazard on to the running list of potential show stoppers in the roadbook - the prospect of drowning an engine. #156 Todd Smith was the fastest Australian on the stage today, spending most of the special in the top 20. #89 Brett Cummings stayed out of trouble finishing 30th for the day, and #131 Warren Strange was less than three minutes behind in 33rd on stage. #274 Paul Smith muscled his TRX700XX through the stage in just over 5.5 hours, safely within the top ten times throughout today. Comments from Todd Smith: "Had another good day today, put in a pretty solid stage and came in 17th which puts me into 39th overall. Even though there were fewer bikes in front of me today I still had to battle a fair bit of dust. It was a tiring stage, very hot but everything went well with no crashes! Have to tackle the Andes again tomorrow and we are back in the dunes... 4 long stages left, hopefully all goes well!" Comments from Paul Smith: "What a hot one. Nearly 50 degrees I'm told, and I struggled with it. Still got 9th though. Tomorrow is the nightmare stage of Fiambalá. It could take out nearly half of the remaining competitors with 50+ degree hot weather and quicksand-like terrain. I don't care for results tomorrow just want make it through."

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