Dakar moto 2018 – Stage 7: report, statements and classifications

Bad luck is definitely hitting Joan Barreda: the Honda official probably broke his knee in the last part of the seventh stage, which he nevertheless won ahead of Adrien Van Beveren (Yamaha) and Kevin Benavides (Honda). "VBA" takes over the reins of the general classification. Debriefing.

Joan Barreda was in great shape thanks to the day off on Friday who set off from La Paz (Bolivia) to tackle the seventh stage of the Dakar motorcycle 2018. The Spaniard, determined to catch up again contracted at the start of the rally following a heading error, quickly widened the advantage to forge himself up to five minutes in advance.

•  Dakar motorcycle –
• Dakar motorcycle – 

Sadly, the fast and fiery HRC rider crashed in the last section – at kilometer 300 – of this 425 km special, the longest in the rally. Trapped by the conditions made difficult by the rain, "Bang Bang" went to the mat to get up with an intense pain in the knee….

Joan Barreda bravely got up to set off again and cross the finish line as the winner, 2’51 ahead of Adrien Van Beveren, second throughout the special on his Yamaha, and his teammate Kevin Benavides. Despite the joy of registering his third stage victory this year, Barreda looks grim at the finish: his knee is so painful that he can barely put his foot on the ground…

"I’m sure my knee is broken"

"I attacked really hard from the start of the day and it was going well," he said. “But at kilometer 300 or so I got off the track and took a big fall. I think I broke my knee, and from that point on I slowed down from the pain. Now we’ll see what we can do, but it seems very complicated to me. I’m sure it’s broken, my knee is totally unstable and I can’t put my foot on the ground ".

At this stage, Joan Barreda and his team have not yet formalized what seems to be a terrible certainty: the outright abandonment of the leader of the HRC team, who had returned to the top three overall thanks to his victory. Cruel setback for Barreda, already forced to retire last year …

VBA takes the lead

Fast and consistent, Adrien Van Beveren is doing the right thing this weekend by taking back from Kevin Benavides first place in the provisional general classification. The French are 3’14 ahead of the Argentine and 4’05 over the unfortunate Barreda. Matthias Walkner is 4th just over eight minutes on his official KTM ahead of teammate Toby Price.

Nice performance also from Xavier de Soultrait, who took advantage of his stages in the wheel of his teammate Van Beveren to appear in sixth position at 16’39. The Yamaha rider is ahead of his compatriot Antoine Meo (KTM), winner of the 6th stage on Thursday.

Video: auto-motorcycle summary of stage 7

Dakar moto 2018: results and classification of stage 7

 To be continued, stay connected !

Dakar moto 2018: provisional general classification seventh day

 

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