Kevin Benavides is once again back on top of the overall leader board at the Desafío Ruta 40 after the fourth stage disputed today (Wednesday) between Belén and Tafí del Valle. Another highly-positive day for the squad who are now eying up places on the final podium with just one day still to run.
The penultimate day from Belén to Tafí del Valle brought with it yet another twist at the top of the table, occupied for the third day running by a member of the Monster Energy Honda Team. The 300-kilometre trek turned out to be different from the previous ones as the riders were confronted with dried-out riverbeds, near untraceable routes, mountain track at 3000 metre altitudes and even some very fine sand dunes.
Kevin Benavides commanded the special with a slick time, due in part to his ability to find a tricky waypoint in the roadbook, which wreaked havoc with the rest of the field, causing most rivals to drop precious minutes. In spite of being left, once again, without the GPS, the Argentinean was able to deftly follow the roadbook to make it through to the finish-line with the day’s fastest time.
Benavides now leads the Desafío Ruta 40, with a ten-minute advantage over fellow Monster Energy Honda Team rider Paulo Gonçalves, with just the final stage to go. The final slog will be held tomorrow between Tafí del Valle and Tucumán, with 180 kilometres against the clock. The stage will take in mountain trails, river crossings, another ascent to over 3500 metres over sea-level and finishes on very high-speed tracks in the wilds.
Michael Metge and Ricky Brabec were both able to complete a good stage, bringing the Honda CRF450 RALLY home with the second and fourth fastest times of the day respectively. The American holds fifth in the overall rankings and the Frenchman ninth.
Paulo Gonçalves, the winner of yesterday’s stage, opened the track today for a large part of the day, until a navigation error and a subsequent fall spoiled his chances of a better result than seventh. Nevertheless, Paulo still keeps second place overall as the race goes into its final day with a ten minute deficit to make up on team-mate Benavides, but a twenty-three minute advantage over the third place rival.
