Marc Coma wins his second stage to move up to fourth position in the 2010 Dakar Rally standings
Marc Coma began his second comeback quest of the 2010 Dakar Rally with victory on the sixth stage to Iquique, an effort that lifts him to fourth position.
Already lumbered with a 22 minute penalty early on in the event, Coma lost further time on stage five with a puncture, dropping him down to eighth in the classification and more than a hour behind the leader Cyril Despres.
Nonetheless, his second stage win of the event sliced ten minutes off the deficit and moved him back up the order to fourth, just behind Francisco Lopez Contardo, who remains second, and Helder Rodrigues in third.
"On km 29 there was a hidden way point,” the Spaniard said. “A lot of riders took it on the right, but with the dust and having left after the others, I really had a hard time. I kept a good pace. It was a very hard day actually. I think I must have passed quite a number of riders but there was so much dust... it was tricky.
“I am happy to have reached the finish without problems. I said I now wanted to win the day-to-day race after all the trouble I had and enjoy the race. Then we'll see. Each day I'll start the stage motivated."
Second fastest on the stage keeps Despres in charge of the event, the Frenchman eking his lead out to 42 minutes.
