Aprilia Racing stage 10 report

Last day in Chile
The Dakar arrives to Arica, the last stage in Chile. Tomorrow the race will cross the border to Peru. Alain Duclos finishes the stage in the 23 position.

#22 Aprilia: Alain Duclos

Photo by: A.S.O.

ARICA – The last city in the North of Chile, Arica, greeted the Dakar´s tenth stage, the last one in Chile. Tomorrow the race waves good-bye to go to Peru, to make its first stop in Arequipa.

Today stage was not so noisy. It was the Spanish rider Joan Barreda who marked his first stage win in the Dakar after this 377 km in the Atacama Desert, the most arid of the planet, and a place where riders found many navigation difficulties.

Started nineteenth this morning, Alain Duclos had a navigation problem at kilometer 138. The dust did not let him read his navigation instruments and made a mistake. Once he was able to get back to the right track after five kilometers, Alain fought to take back his position and finished the stage 23rd.

Alain Duclos: “Today it was such a beautiful stage, with steering, dunes, off road sections. I was in the dust and I couldn´t read my road-book so I followed some other riders… and I did five kilometers until I saw I was not on the right track, and I got back but I had to overtake many riders that went through while I wasn´t there…. I lost the right pace and it is harder to find it back when you have problems than when everything is fine.”