Day 4 Dakar 2014: Juan Pedrero Wins Stage Aboard Sherco

Stage 4 of the 2014 Dakar saw Juan Pedrero take his maiden victory aboard a Sherco SR 450 Rally. Although not in contention for the overall, Pedrero showed he has outgrown his previous role as Marc Coma’s lieutenant at KTM by bringing his Sherco across the finish line 3:10 faster than third place Coma and 29 seconds faster than second place finisher Francisco Lopez.

Coma’s performance in today’s stage moved him to only 3:10 behind overall leader Joan Barreda. Following his victory on Tuesday, Barreda took it easy to bring home his bike in good shape, as there was no service allowed after yesterday´s extreme mountain stage finishing sixth.

Cyril Despres maintained an ideal pace throughout most of the stage but blew up with about 7.5 miles to go and could only watch as his rivals and other nearby riders disappear into the distance. The five-time winner now has a 41-minute deficit to Barreda in the general classification. With a history of amazing comebacks, it is too early to write Despres off, but his task has now become more difficult than he had imagined. Despres was still luckier than stage 2 winner Sam Sunderland, who had to give up after the engine of his Honda broke down.

Three-time Dakar winner Marc Coma is now a close second to Barreda in the overall standings.

Provisional stage 4 results:
1. Juan Pedrero Garcia (ESP, Sherco) 05:29:13 hrs
2. Francisco Lopez (CHL, KTM) +00:00:29
3. Marc Coma (ESP, KTM) +00:03:10
4. Jeremias Israel Esquerre (CHL, Speedbrain) +00:06:30
5. Olivier Pain (FRA, Yamaha) +00:07:01
6. Joan Barreda (ESP, Honda) +00:13:56
7. Paulo Goncalves (PRT, Honda) +00:18:38
8. Ivan Jakes (SVK, KTM) +00:19:30
9. Alain Duclos (FRA, Sherco) +00:23:13
10. Daniel Gouet (CHL, Honda) +00:24:38

Provisional overall standings:
1. Joan Barreda (ESP, Honda) 15:39:53 hrs
3. Marc Coma (ESP, KTM) +00:03:10
3. Francisco Lopez (CHL, KTM) +00:05:12
4. Alain Duclos (FRA, Sherco) +00:25:55
5. Olivier Pain (FRA, Yamaha) +00:29:38
6. Cyril Despres (FRA, Yamaha) +00:41:17
7. David Casteu (FRA, KTM) +00:42:17
8. Jeremias Israel Esquerre (CHL, Speedbrain) +00:46:33
9. Jordi Viladoms (ESP, KTM) +00:49:14
10. Jakub Przygonski (POL, KTM) +00:54:52

By Tom Roderick