Joan "Bang Bang" Barreda wins Stage 3 of Rally Dakar 2017-01-05

Joan "Bang Bang" Barreda, one of the youngest and most promising motorcycle athletes to fill the Dakar Rally, left rivals far in the distance to conquer stage 3 and take overall lead in the Rally Dakar 2017. Starting at San Miguel de Tucuman, the 3rd stage of the 2017 Dakar headed to San Salvador de Jujuy on a route with 364km of Special Stage and 416km of Liaison, adding up to a total of a long 780kms. High altitudes unique to the Dakar in South America started on this stage with the highest point at 4895m, causing large temperature differences and changeable weather. At lower altitude the temperature was as high as 36 degrees (c) whereas when rain fell at 4000m, it dropped to a cold 5 degrees, making it a very hard day for both the bikes and the riders.

Joan Barreda of Monster Energy Honda Team was the one to show devastating speed in this difficult stage. Starting from 9th position, he rode the CRF450 Rally with style passing the first way-point in 49minutes 23seconds, five to 18 minutes faster than rivals and teammates in the leading pack. Maintaining this high pace throughout the whole two Special Stages, Barreda has scored his first stage win this season also moving up to 1st position on the leaderboard with a massive 10minutes 20seconds lead over Sam Sunderland (KTM) in second place.

Stage 3 was the last stage in Argentina before entering Bolivia. The shorter Stage 4 starts in San Salvador de Jujuy and completes in Tupiza, a total distance of 521 km.

Meanwhile, Stéphane Peterhansel claimed victory at Dakar Rally 2017 after Nasser Al-Attiyah suffered a serious mechanical to all but end his hopes of overall victory. The defending champion took advantage of a dramatic end to Stage 3 to claim his first victory of the race and give Team Peugeot a 1-2-3.  Al-Attiyah had been Mr Consistency in the race so far and it was all going so well for the Toyota Gazoo Racing leader until kilometre 414 when his Hilux suddenly stopped with a technical issue.

Carlos Sainz finished nearly two minutes back from teammate, with Sébastien Loeb in third and Cyril Despres in fifth as Team Peugeot dominated the day, while another race favourite Giniel de Villiers added to Toyota’s problems by also stopping and losing time towards the end.

After a long day on the quad bike, Ignacio Casale retained his lead in the overall rankings after finishing second to Gastòn Gonzàlez. Argentine, Gonzàlez, perfectly controlled the stage from start to finish and crossed the line nearly five minutes ahead of his rival.

There wasn’t much to separate the trucks during the third stage but it was Eduard Nikolaev of the Kamaz team who prevailed. The Russian, a former winner, overcame Martin Kolomy by 48 seconds but the Czech driver retained the overall lead in the general standings with Nikolaev now a close second.

Four MINI cars in top ten overall: Day three of the 2017 Dakar Rally signalled the first off-terrain stage in this year’s event, with challenges added by the increase in altitude to more than 5,000 metres. Unpredictable weather, ranging from scorching temperatures reaching an estimated 36 degrees to rain at 4,000 metres, provided further tests for the drivers and navigators as they raced towards today’s finish line in San Salvador de Jujuy.

It was a long day, with the first cars starting to line-up at 9.35am to start the 780km stage, but it was a day that proved successful for the MINI competitors. X-raid Team’s Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) and Michel Périn (FRA) in the number 303 MINI John Cooper Works Rally car enjoyed a particularly strong performance, competing within the top three for much of the stage before securing a fourth place finish. Today’s result moves the pair into 4th place overall in the standings and is a reminder of the potential demonstrated by the Finnish driver during his Dakar debut with MINI last year.

 Another two MINI cars joined Hirvonen and Al Rajhi in the overall top 10 by the end of stage 3.  

Joaquim Rodrigues and C.S. Santosh survive a tough day: It was a day of utter mayhem in the general classifications. The navigational challenges in the first 70 km of the special stage from San Miguel De Tucuman to San Salvador De Jujuy caused many riders to lose their way. On a day when things could have gone a lot worse, Hero Motosports Team Rally riders came out with mixed fortunes to keep the team’s Dakar campaign very much on track.

 Even overnight leader in the general classification Toby Price was among the many casualties of the navigation nightmare. Joaquim Rodrigues, too lost his way that cost him about 35 minutes. But once he was out of the maze of tracks in the riverbed, the rising Portuguese star on the rally-raid scene unlocked some serious speed as the altitudes climbed and the weather deteriorated that included braving a minor hail storm to complete the stage with a time of 8 hour 21 minutes 19 seconds. It helped him to finish the day in 19th place that put him in 20th position in the overall provisional general classifications.

C.S. Santosh, on the other hand, had a much tougher time with his navigation as he lost his way in the off-piste section through the river bed. He lost more than an hour trying to get back on the track, which affected his overall standings in the general classification. Santosh completed the timed section in 10 hour 03 minutes 39 minutes that placed him in 67th position for the day and 56th in the overall general classifications. 

 KTM’S SAM SUNDERLAND TAKES A STRONG SECOND IN DAKAR STAGE 3: Red Bull KTM factory rider Sam Sunderland emerged as the best of the factory team in the Dakar Rally Stage 3, as this beast of a rally showed its nasty side for the first time in this edition. The British rider finished second behind Spain’s Joan Barreda in the long stage, and ahead of Pela Renet of France. Sunderland is now also second in the overall standings, with an 11.20-minute deficit to Barreda, who now assumes the overall lead.

Like many riders, Sam Sunderland’s teammates Toby Price, the winner of stage two, and Matthias Walkner, both got into difficulties in the early part of the stage. They, and many others lost time in their battle against difficult navigation, fesh-fesh, camel grass and riverbeds. Price was ninth in the stage and dropped in the overall standings to fifth position. Walkner, who incurred an overnight five-minute speeding penalty, was 11th in the stage and tenth overall. KTM Factory Racing teammate Laia Sanz finished 17th on her KTM 450 RALLY bike after the hard ride that took competitors from San Miguel de Tucuman to San Salvador de Jujuy – a total of 780 km with a total of 364 km over two timed specials. On a day that was particularly tough, Sanz is now 15th. Her goal is to improve on her 2015 result, her best so far at the Dakar, where she finished overall ninth.

Van Beveren Goes Into Attack Mode During Stage Three At Dakar Rally:  Enjoying a highly positive third day of competition at the 2017 Dakar Rally, Adrien Van Beveren moved closer to the top of the general standings where he's now provisionally placed sixth overall. Continuing their strong runs all three of Adrien's Yamalube Yamaha Official Rally Team partners along with WR450F mounted Xavier de Soultrait finished stage three without problems and are still in the battle for top honours at this year's event.

Featuring a timed special of 364km in the dust of the Argentinean northwest, stage three of this year's Dakar Rally proved to be a great test for Yamalube Yamaha Official Rally Team riders' navigational skills. Remaining focused on his goal for a good final result, Adrien Van Beveren rode a smart race to the finish in San Salvador de Jujuy. Completing the special in a total time of 04:43:21, the WR450F Rally mounted rider claimed a strong sixth place result.

Looking to make the most out of his familiarity with the conditions Rodney Faggotter was the second fastest Yamalube Yamaha Official Rally Team rider finishing today's stage three in 18th position. Gradually gaining back confidence following his fall during yesterday's stage, the Aussie opted to take it steady to the finish of the day so that he can now focus on the remainder of the rally.

Knowing there is still a long way to go until the finish line in Buenos Aires, Portugal's Hélder Rodrigues rode a cautious race during stage three to come home in 23rd position. With the race now heading to the mountainous stages of Bolivia, the Yamalube Yamaha Official Rally Team rider is aiming to put his vast experience to use in order to start climbing closer to the top of the provisional overall standings.

For Italy's Alessandro Botturi it was a day of mixed emotions. Pushing hard for a good result from the first part of the timed special, the WR450F Rally mounted Italian lost a huge amount of time racing in the dust of the leading riders. Struggling to get a good race pace Alessandro finished the special with the 20th fastest time, but was hit by a 20-minute penalty due to missing a waypoint that dropped him to 27th in today's results.

Yamaha remains a dominant force in the Quad category: With four Yamaha mounted riders topping today's stage three, it was Argentina's Gaston Gonzalez who got away with the stage victory aboard a YFM 700 machine. With three stages completed in this year's event Yamaha supported Ignacio Casale is provisionally leading the overall standings in the class.

Taking place at altitude of around 3,500m tomorrow's stage four will be another tough test for all Dakar Rally competitors. Including a timed special of 416km the stage will take racers to Bolivia with the day's bivouac set in the city of Tupiza at 3,000m above sea level.

Sherco TVS Factory Rally team: Joan Pedrero placed 16th in the third stage of the Dakar, which was raced between San Miguel de Tucuman and San Salvador de Jujuy, he finished 33'56 '' behind the winner. The Spanish rider from the Sherco TVS Rally Factory Team is 14th overall, 35'10 'behind the leader. He made a small mistake at the beginning of the special, he lost fifteen minutes looking for the right course, like many other riders. After getting back on course he attacked and completed the stage. Adrien Metge placed 32nd in this third stage at 59'50 ''behind the winner. He is 68th at 2 h 52'54 '' from the top of the overall standings. He had a great comeback today and fought through the dust. Aravind KP had a big fall 40 km into Stage 3 of the Dakar rally and injured his shoulder. He has been treated by the medical team and unfortunately will not be able to continue his journey at Dakar.