Marc Coma (KTM/MICHELIN) won the eighth stage of the 2012 Dakar to take over the lead from Cyril Despres who dropped more than 17 minutes today. The Frenchman is second overall, 9m32s behind Coma.

From Copiapo, the Pan-American Highway strikes north past fishing villages along the Pacific coast to the Pan de Azucar National Park which is a major attraction for tourists. Here, Ruta 5 forks right before embarking on the traverse of the stark, stony Atacama Desert for about 200km, to a backdrop colours ranging from ochre to brown.

After driving from more than 330km, a fuel station comes into sight on the horizon. It is here that the eighth stage's third passage control (PC3) has been set up, at Km316 on the bikers' road books. It's around 11:30am and the sun is beating down on the capped heads of the KTM, Yamaha and Husqvarna mechanics who have come here to make sure their riders are okay. The latter have 15 minutes in which to refuel and have a drink before getting back on their machine for the final 161km of the stage.

Marc Coma is the first to show up at our vantage point. The N°1 KTM/MICHELIN is refuelled while the Spaniard profits from a few minutes in the shade to swallow down some water and splash some of it over his face. Cyril Despres still hasn't arrived. Without a word, Marc puts his helmet back on, adjusts his road book and fires up his bike's 450cc engine. Still no sign of Despres…

It appears that the Frenchman checked at PC1 (Km65) 11m55s behind Coma, then 12m55s behind him at PC2 (Km119). By the time he reached us, at PC3, Cyril Despres was 15m49s adrift, and the gap stretched further to 17m20s by the end of the stage: "I got stuck in mud just after the start, at a spot which wasn't indicated either by the course-openers or at last night's briefing. I was distracted by two helicopters and I veered to the left where I really shouldn't have strayed."

At the finish, several other bikes were caked in mud, too, including David Casteu's Yamaha. The day's second-fastest time was the work of by Portugal's Ruben Faria (KTM/MICHELIN), who provides rapid support for Despres, while Joan Barreda delivered another strong performance on his Husqvarna to claim the third best time.

Marc Coma now tops the provisional order, 9m32s clear of Despres, and 51m37s ahead of Rodrigues.

Classement étape 7

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