As a mark of respect for the death of Australian rider Andy Caldecott, who died yesterday, the organisers agreed with the riders to neutralise the tenth stage of the rally. This meant that for the entire field of bike racers today’s leg was a liaison stage and the times would not count towards their overall standings.
The field started leaving the camp at 8.30am with the stage winner from yesterday, Cyril Despres being the first away. The competitors were given ten hours to cover the 333km from Kiffa to Kayes in Mali. Race to Dakar rider Simon Pavey finished the day in 99th position.
Yesterday’s stage unfortunately saw the retirement of Pavey’s Race to Dakar team mate, Matt Hall from this year’s event. Hall who was competing in his first Dakar Rally had already passed the first two checkpoints wh en he ran into difficulties. However he was unhurt and is keen to rejoin his team in order to give Si Pavey his full support.
Because of the neutralisation of the stage overall standings are the same as yesterday’s with Spain’s Marc Coma leading from Frenchman Cyril Despres and Italy’s Giovanni Sala. British BMW F650GS rider Nick Plumb is placed 88th going into the last five days of this year’s event.
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