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--  -- Dakar 2013, 12th Stage , Fiambala - Copiapo - 715 km stage (447 miles) including 319 km special test R2013 Dakar Rally Stage 12 Results - Cordoba to La Rioja: timed special 319 km 1. Frans Verhoeven, NED (Yamaha) 3:49:15 2. Ruben Faria, PRT (KTM) 3:50:53 3. Joan Barreda, ESP (Husq) 3:52:16 4. Alain Duclos FRA (Sherco) 3:52:32 5. Helder Rodrigues, PRT (Honda) 3:52:50 6. Jakub Przygonski POL (KTM) 3:53:22 7. Francisco Lopez CHL (KTM) 3:54:02 8. Gerard Farres ESP (Honda) 3:54:17 9. Javier Pizzolito ARG (Honda) 3:54:37 10. Olivier Pain FRA (Yamaha) 3:54:47 17. Michael Metges FRA (Yamaha) 4:00:29 2013 Dakar Rally Overall Standings after Stage 10: 1. Cyril Despres (KTM) 37:32:34 2. Ruben Faria (KTM) 37:38:12 3. Chaleco Lopez (KTM) 37:46:03 4. Ivan Jakes (KTM) 37:52:47 5. Juan Pedrero (KTM) 38:28:18 6. Olivier Pain (Yamaha) 38:50:28 7. Frans Verhoeven (Yamaha) 38:52:21 8. Helder Rodrigues (Honda) 38:57:43 9. Javier Pizzolito (Honda) 39:06:19 10. Jakub Przygonski (KTM) 39:15:36 19. Michael Metge (Yamaha) 40:52:21 On a 12th special stage marked by the joint strategy of general standings leader Cyril Despres and his provisional runner-up and team-mate, Ruben Faria, Dutchman Frans Verhoeven picked up his 4th stage victory on the Dakar and his first since 2011. In the general standings, Despres and Faria are solidly installed in the first two places ahead of “Chaleco” Lopez. The situation is almost identical in the car category, where Stéphane Peterhansel is focused on protecting his lead. Despite a small scare after grinding to a halt in the dunes, the Frenchman has a comfortable lead in the general on completion of the special won by Nani Roma. Despres and Faria control the general, Verhoeven takes advantage… Cyril Despres, third to start the day's special, decided to protect his team-mate Ruben Faria against the attacks of Chaleco Lopez who is always a threat on home soil. As a result, the general standings leader preferred to hold back a little and leave opening the tracks to his rivals, less skilled in navigation. The outcome was a more moderate pace to the race. This strategy paid off perfectly, because at the finishing line, Ruben Faria, tenth to start today, having quickly caught up with the stage leaders, achieved the second best time of the day, 1'38 behind Frans Verhoeven. The Dutchman, 12th to start, took advantage of clear tracks to really hit the gas, picking up his first victory on the Dakar 2013. Behind him, in spite of a painful shoulder following yesterday's fall, Spaniard Joan Barreda put in the day's 3rd best time, 16” in front of Alain Duclos, an excellent 4th on his Sherco. In the general standings, Despres' and Faria's strategy also functioned flawlessly because the title holder remains untroubled in the lead, 5'39 ahead of his Portuguese team-mate who enjoyed the additional bonus of adding a further 3 minutes to the gap that separates him from Chaleco Lopez, 7th quickest today, now 13'40 behind the rally leader. In the quad category, the return to the dunes and off-track riding brought Sebastien Husseini back to his favourite terrain. As a result, the Dutchman, who lives in the United Arab Emirates, finally won his first stage victory on the Dakar, 1'08 ahead of Marcos Patronelli. However, the Argentinean still boasts a more than comfortable lead in the general standings. In the car category, despite a fright with a burst tyre at the very end of the special, Nani Roma took advantage of successive mistakes made by Robby Gordon, then by Stéphane Peterhansel, to grab his 3rd stage victory this year, 4'18” ahead of the American. Now officially focused on protecting his lead in the general standings, the overall leader and title holder drove without forcing the issue too much and although he did briefly get stuck in the dunes, “Peter” only lost 6'03” to Roma and more importantly merely 1'38” to his closest pursuer, Giniel de Villiers, 3rd today, 4'25” behind the Catalan. As a result, 2 days away from the finish in Santiago, Peterhansel still has a lead of 50'24 over the South African. - Ruben Farria - "I was 10th to start today and what's more, I broke my wheel trim on the link stage. I thought, ‘well this is a really good start to the day'! I rode carefully at the start because there were a lot of stones and rocks, then I attack in the dunes. I finished 2nd on the stage, so it actually has turned out to be a good day. I'm very happy with the work Cyril did and I'm happy with my personal result. However, there are still two days left to race and on the Dakar, you can br smiling one day and then unfortunate the next day. It's happened to Casteu and to Pain, so I'm saving my smile for when we reach the end of the rally. For the moment, it's going fine." - Joan Barreda Bort - "Today was a perfect day. I tried to push on the first part. When I caught up with the group of the first riders, I tried to go in front, but then at one way point I made a mistake. I went in another direction to everyone else. I had to go back and then I tried to catch Despres and Ruben who I caught finally." - Cyril Despres - "The stage was not really, really nice this morning, really fast. But on the second part we arrived in the big mountains covered by sand and the big valleys with a lot of navigation. I didn't want to open the track today so I let them go. It was also important for me today to try and help Ruben. He's been helping me for the Dakar 2010, 2011, 2012 and also 2013, so today I decided to help him to try and stay in second place overall. I think he did well and I'm happy for us" -- Husky Report High speeds throughout and a lot navigation made the twelfth stage of the Dakar, from Fiambala to Copiapo a tough one. Joan "Bang Bang" Barreda proved to be the best of the Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain taking third place on the day, and bringing the team its tenth podium place out of the twelve stages contested so far. Joan, who led throughout the race made a slight navigational error which dropped him down into third place finishing just three minutes behind winner Verhoeven. Alessandro Botturi, on the other hand, had a day worth forgetting. After holding seventh place for the first half of the race, the rider lost a lot of time looking for the way point. Alessandro finished fourteen minutes behind the leader, but now runs the risk of being penalized with a one hour penalty for failure to pass Way Point 13. Paulo Goncalves had a fairly lacklustre day, opening the track for the other riders after starting from second position. He came in sixteenth, ten minutes behind the winner. Tomorrow sees the penultimate stage of the rally from Copiapo to La Serena including 441 km special test (275 miles) and a total distance of 735 km (460 miles). The last real stage before they roll into Santiago. Joan Barreda: “I really pushed hard right from the start today, and I lead the way for quite a stretch. Then I made a slight navigational error and lost a few minutes, but I managed to pull it back almost straight away. I’m pleased with my race today.” Paulo Goncalves: “It was difficult to open a race like today’s. I started out from second, and was like a hare to the other greyhounds that were in chase. Anyway, I’m fairly pleased with my race and I didn’t make any significant mistakes.” Alessandro Botturi: ”I’m really disappointed. Everything went really well until halfway through the race. Then I lost patience when I couldn’t find the right route and I missed a way point which will cost me a one hour penalty. Today I threw away practically everything…..a shame.” -- KTM Report Teamwork was on the agenda for the Red Bull KTM Factory team in Stage 12 of the Dakar 2013 when overall leader Cyril Despres worked with teammate and support rider Ruben Faria of Portugal to help him gain some overall time on KTM rival Chaleco Lopez, now racing on his home territory of Chile. The tactics worked well and at the end of the stage Despres and Faria had secured 1-2 in the overall standings with just two stages to go to Saturday’s finish line in Santiago, Chile. Faria trailed Despres by 5 minutes 39 in the overall standings when riders arrived at the finish in Copiapo but more importantly, the Portuguese rider had gained around three minutes advantage on Lopez. Despres said the first part of the stage was very fast and then riders entered the big dunes of the Atacama Desert where good navigation was decisive. “I didn't want to open the track today so I let the others go,” Despres said. “It was also important for me today to try and help Ruben. He's been helping me now as support rider in all the Dakar Rallies since 2012 so today I decided to help him to try and stay in second place overall. I think he did well and I'm happy for us.” Stage 12 went to Dutch rider Frans Verhoeven with Faria n second just one minute 38 behind. Next fastest KTM factory rider was Jakub Przgonski of the Factory B Team in sixth place just over four minute behind. He too held off Lopez who finished seventh. KTM factory rider Joan Pedrero finished twelfth and Despres coasted in in fourteenth place. The team’s American rider Kurt Caselli put in another strong ride to finish 13.26 behind the leader and despite a heavy penalty of 3 hours 20 for missed checkpoints and waypoint in Stage 8 is still in a creditable twenty-fifth place in his first ever Dakar. Friday is the penultimate stage of the 2013 edition as riders head for Santiago and travel from Copiapo south along the Pacific Coast to La Serena in a 735 km ride of which there is another long timed special of 441 km. -- HRC Report The bikes were the first to leave the Fiambala bivouac this morning at 04:15 am, opening the road that climbs up to 4,700 metres crossing the Andes Mountains from east to west. Passing the San Francisco Pass, the Dakar marathon returns to the Atacama Desert in Chile where the 12th stage of the 2013 Dakar took place. It was another technical and demanding stage with the major section of big dunes right in the middle of the special, with some difficult rocky and stony tracks at the beginning and at the end of the stage. Helder Rodrigues finished in the top 5, only 3’35” behind stage winner Frans Verhoeven, Pizzolito worked as a good team mate throughout the stage gaining the 9th position, while Johnny Campbell gave another brave performance, getting to the finish in 45th place, despite the pain and the altitude sickness. Helder Rodrigues, SS12 5th +3’35”, 8th overall: “When we passed the San Francisco Pass this morning it was freezing, I think the temperatures were below zero. What a difference from the heat of the Atacama desert! I enjoyed today's stage as navigation was important as well as being fast. At the beginning there were many rocks with a lot of dust and fech fech and then the challenging dunes of the Atacama desert. Today everything went well, the bike worked well and I finished 5th but, unfortunately yesterday I lost the possibility of fighting for a place on the podium. It’s a pity, now I’m 8th overall but I will continue to push and try to get the best possible result for Team HRC”. Javier Pizzolito, SS12 9th +5’22”, 9th overall: “Navigation was important in this stage and I particularly enjoyed the big dunes of the Atacama desert, famous because they're very difficult to climb. Today it was a very demanding stage for the body and the machine due to the altitude when we crossed the Pass but also because it was very tiring to face the special after 392 km of liaison. Today our team work was excellent, once I caught Helder, I followed him and we did the special together. I'm now sitting in the top 10 overall and I intend to continue to push and try to improve my final result”. Johnny Campbell 45th +50’53”, 44th overall: “It was freezing this morning. When I stopped to change gloves I felt dizzy then when we started the descent I felt kind of sleepy because of the altitude sickness. I started the stage feeling weak. Fortunately the pain was less intense, but I rode conservatively as there was no reason to push. I stopped to help Marc Guasch, who had crashed hitting a rock and then I continued at a nice pace to have fun with the bike and the terrain. It’s a pity that I’m not fit to push but I prefer to ride more conservatively aiming to bring the bike to Santiago”. -- Yamaha Report Verhoeven Scores with Victory on Stage 12 of Dakar Yamaha Netherlands Verhoeven Team rider Frans Verhoeven made it count today, expertly dispatching the 12th stage of the 2013 Dakar Rally to take a much deserved victory aboard his 450 Yamaha machine. The Dutch rider excelled on a stage that over 319km contained sand, stones, rocks, rio’s and dunes. In a touching tribute Verhoeven dedicated his first stage victory of the 2013 Dakar to former Yamaha France Dakar legend Jean-Claude Olivier who tragically passed away last week. The result places Verhoeven in seventh position and closes the gap to fellow Yamaha rider Olivier Pain who came home in tenth position today and moves up to sixth, less than two minutes ahead of the Dutchman. Marcos Patronelli took another second place finish today, the Yamaha Racing Argentina rider finishing just one minute behind the leader. His result on the Yamaha quad keeps him nearly two hours in the lead as the Dakar draws closer to the final stages. “We would not be here without Jean-Claude,” Frans Verhoeven explained. “JCO has been an inspiration for us, ever since the time Stéphane Peterhansel won for Yamaha. Therefore this victory is dedicated to his memory. My Yamaha 450 did not have one small hic up today. The potential of this bike is amazing. Today compensates for the trouble I had in the first week. I was able to keep the pace high for all of the stage. Immediately from the beginning I started to hunt down Faria, who had started a minute in front of me, and Duclos, who had three minutes. I rode like a motocross rider. Before the tank stop at kilometer 169 I had overtaken Faria and was on Duclos’ tail. It was one of those days when you know exactly what you do and where you are. The perfect day and a little bit more. I made no mistakes and was in super balance. Everything I did worked out the best possible way."

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