Special stage = 149 km
Liaison-sections = 74 km
Total = 223 km
100% new !
A short day with a 149km stage through small mountains. A stage reminiscent of the `Atlas' rather than Dakar rally.
The day's difficulty : the narrowness of the tracks, particularly for the trucks.
TODAY
Ari Vatanen has won the 1st stage with his ZX Citroen thus becoming
the leader of this 18th Total Granada Dakar. Fought out over 149 km
this special has the unanimous approval of all the competitors even if
in the camps of the two favorite teams there were flats!
Bruno Saby and his Mitsubishi were not very at ease on the narrow roads
and were forced to stop several times.At Citroen, Servia and Wambergue
had the same mishaps which deprived him from the first place.
In the T2 category, Delavergne, appreciated his new frame which proved to be more performant then his usual T1.In the motorcycle category, Kinigadner made a spectacular leap from 112th place to the 12th and the fastest time in front of Sainet and the spainard Roma and Thierry Magnaldi.
Stephen Peterhansel fell at the 19th kilometre, but finally finished 6th at today's stage. The German team Czerny-Oomen in their Toyota fell into a ravine 15 metres deep they were immediately brought to the bivouac and treated at the medical post, after examination it seems that they are fine. The co-pilot was ejceted from the car, it seems his harness opened.
