The Race to Dakar team has successfully completed the hardest day so far of the Euromilhões Lisboa Dakar 2006. Stage 5 of the gruelling event had a bit of everything: fast, stony tracks, rocks, potholes, heavy fog, and a serious amount of distance to cover. The mammoth 819 km (500 miles) stage started early this morning in Ouarzazate (near Marrakech) with a 187 km liaison, followed by a 350 km special, and finishing with a 282 km liaison to the rally bivouac at Tan Tan, close to the Atlantic coast
At the head of the field, it was Frenchman Cyril Despres and Spaniards Marc Coma and Isidre Esteve who were 'head and shoulders' above the opposition, as the rally participants rode in a south-westerly direction through Morocco. Taking off behind his two main rivals, Despres captured the day's win and moved to within one minute and 25 seconds of Coma in the overall rankings. Isidre Esteve moved down to third spot, some six minutes adrift.
The Race to Dakar team of Matt Hall, Charley Boorman and Simon Pavey are in 112th, 114th and 125th place respectively at the end of today's event. Tomorrow's stage is another big one (792 km) from Tan Tan to Zouerat, with a long liaison (336 km) in the dark to the start of the 444 km special, which includes wide open fast sections as well as stretches of sand in the second half. A short liaison of just 12 km will complete day six.
Charley Boorman has been forced to retire from the 2006 Euromilhões Lisbon to Dakar Rally after crashing and breaking his hand on day five of the event - one third of the way through his first Dakar rally. The stage from Ouarzazate to Tan Tan was 819km in length and included a 315km special stage. Charley will continue to follow the rally to support his fellow Race to Dakar team-mates Simon Pavey and Matt Hall on their quest to get to the end of the arduous event. Charley will also be assisting with the further production of the Race to Dakar television series, which is due to be aired on Sky in October.
The remaining members of the Race to Dakar team left the tricky tracks of Morocco behind them today and entered Mauritania. Today's sixth stage was another a big one (792 km) from Tan Tan to Zouerat, with Pavey and Hall starting a long liaison (336 km) in the middle of the night before having to cope with the 444 km special, which included wide open fast sections as well as stretches of sand in the second half.
Navigation came into play today on the fast off-road terrain, where it was easy to make mistakes and lose time. However, both riders made it successfully to Zouerat (in 107th and 111th place), as did BMW rider Nick Plumb, who finished marginally ahead in 101st place. These results put Plumb in 90th, Hall in 108th and Pavey in 117th position in the overall rankings.
Chilean Carlo De Gavardo, won today's stage in just over four hours, with Italian Giovanni Sala second and Spaniard Isidre Esteve third. Yesterday's stage winner Cyril Despres broke his collarbone today but has decided to continue racing, despite struggling to hold on to his second place in the overall rankings. Marc Coma remains at the top of the leader board after finishing fifth today.
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