KTM multi Dakar winner Marc Coma came in second in the penultimate stage of the Dos Sertoes in Brazil and goes into tomorrow’s final stage placed third overall behind leader Paolo Goncalves of Portugal and Cyril Despres of France.
It was the Spanish rider's fourth second place in the individual stages of this over 4000 km epic carving a big figure eight track through central Brazil. Friday’s stage took riders from Minaçu to Goianésia and the 666km stage included a 312 km timed special.
Coma has taken a top three place in every stage so far except for a setback in the marathon stage when a wheel problem slowed him down to a cautious rate and cost him more than 42 minutes. He then bounced back to win the next stage and today also narrowed the gap between him and long time rival Despres. He trimmed the gap to the Frenchman by more than 15 minutes and now only 11 minutes 30 seconds separates them. Meanwhile there is a 37 minutes 19 seconds gap between Coma and the race leader Goncaves. Both riders are fighting for points in the World Cross Country Rallies Championship. Coma is the current leader and title-holder.
KTM factory teammate Jakub “Kuba” Przygonski of Poland finished third behind Coma and moved from sixth to fifth in the overall standings. Both Coma and Przygonski are riding the KTM 450 Rally bike
Marc Coma: "I started with a slow pace to be sure not to make any mistakes. We were again in mountains and the first half was a dusty Enduro-style section before we had to tackle a faster section that was more enjoyable to ride. Tomorrow is the last day of the rally and the stage will be shorter. The rally is almost over today but with one like this, anything can happen.”
The final stage on Saturday takes riders over just 290 kilometers, including a timed special of just 123 km.
Stage Nine Minaçu-Goianésia 666km with 312 km timed special (penultimate stage)
1, Paolo Goncalves, Portugal, Speedbrain 4:04.58
2, Marc Coma, Spain, KTM 3:23.04
3, Kuba Przygonski, Poland, KTM 3:30.04
4, Fausto Mota, Portugal, Yamaha, 3:30.42
5, Jean Azevedo, Brazil, Honda, 3:34.15
6, Ricardo Martins, 3:35.56
7, Michael Metge, France, 3:36.56
8, Cyril Despres, France, Yamaha 3.38.26
9, Leandro Silviera, Brazil, 3:40.53
10, Raul Lima, Brazil, 3:46.59
Overall after Stage 9
1, Goncalves, 28:59.52
2, Despres, at 25 minutes 49.2
3, Coma, at 37:19.5
4, Azevedo, at 01 hour 15:24.5
5, Przygonski at 1:30:26.9
