Most liked posts in thread: Dakar - 2017

Apparently they couldn't quite buff all that out as Al-Attiyah dropped out before the start of Stage 4. Stage 3 was brutal with one biker finishing the stage after being struck by lightning on the stage. Here's a partial list of other withdrawals (Al-Attiyah and a few others dropped out after this list was published):

In the bike race, Lajos Horvath, Jasper Riezebos, Antonio Ramos, Hans Smit, Jacopo Cerutti, Aravind Prabhakar and Humphrey Senn Van Basel have had to drop out. In the quad category, it was also a difficult day with José Luis Espinosa, Suany Martínez, Leonardo Martínez and Mariano Bennazar exiting the race. Three cars are also absent this morning, namely the Toyotas driven by Jan-Pascal Besson and Ramón Núñez as well as the Ford of Xavier Pons, who was not able to overcome his troubles on the second stage.​

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoIZRgv-KVg"]DAKAR 2017 - STAGE 3 - WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4 - SAN MIGUEL DE TUCUMÃÂN / SAN SALVADOR DE JUJUY |ENG - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCE-D4sEmKE"]Stage 3 Summary - Car/Bike - (San Miguel de Tucumán / San Salvador de Jujuy) - Dakar 2017 - YouTube[/ame]

 

2016's winner on bikes, Price, fell off today and broke his leg! He's now out, obviously.

 

This bike is probably done...

 

Sainz' day today wasn't much better than Al-Attiyah's yesterday. He rolled his buggy into a ravine near the end of the stage and lost more than 2 hours.

 

I guess they really meant it when they said the previous Dakars in SA had been easy and this year would be different...

If you don't have time for the excellent 26min+ video immediately below, skip to the summary.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9HGmwVv9p0"]STAGE 4 - THURSDAY, JANUARY 5 - SAN SALVADOR DE JUJUY / TUPIZA |ENG - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fu3HJ5OEmo"]Stage 4 Summary - Car/Bike - (San Salvador de Jujuy / Tupiza) - Dakar 2017 - YouTube[/ame]

 

Today's stage was cut short due to weather conditions...

 

There's almost zero video avail of Sainz rally ending crash yesterday and none of it is any good. This is the best I've seen. No word on the health of the person who was holding the camera...

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDVjCp4Xzrg"]Dakar Rally 2017 - INCREDIBLE video of the accident of Carlos Sainz. Almost a tragedy. - YouTube[/ame]

 

Stage 6 was cancelled due to weather and its effect on the route. So, they're not racing today but they still have to make their way to the starting point bivouac for the next stage. Apparently this, even with all the support vehicles, etc, is proving difficult for some. Here's hoping there's a Stage 7. :fingerscrossed:

Doesn't look like they're having much fun...

 

They said Price's femur was just fractured. Well, technically, I guess...

 

The Dakar official folks are getting these longer videos pulled down pretty quickly (they're unauthorized) so if you want to see you have to jump on them right away. Otherwise, and after they're pulled, the official summary follows.

The shortened Stage 5 (yesterday):

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF9pL_MQmqs"]DAKAR 2017 - STAGE 5 - FRIDAY 6TH JANUARY - TUPIZA / ORURO | ENG - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTHCZB7fySQ"]Stage 5 Summary - Car/Bike - (Tupiza / Oruro) - Dakar 2017 - YouTube[/ame]

 

Half of Friday's stage was cancelled, all of Sat, and Sun is a scheduled rest day. Given the conditions and what it's taken some just to get to the rest day bivouac, etc, I'm sure they need it. It's not exactly party time in Bolivia...

 

After all that weather damaged some of the planned stage routes and since cancellation means they didn't use any of Stage 6 anyway, the organizers decided to redesign Stage 7 as a mix of usable parts of the original Stage 6 & 7 routes.

 

Looks like an American rider won the stage for the bike category. As this implies, he apparently wasn't sure whether to believe it when they told him.