Dakar 2018: Despite another crash, Hero MotoSport's CS Santosh improves to 40th overall while Mena breaks into top 15

Another crash at the tenth stage of the Dakar Rally has CS Santosh struggling but still able to finish and improve his overall standing while his Hero MotoSports teammate Oriol Mena finishes fourth on the stage and breaks into the top 15.

Santosh started the stage quite well until he had a really bad crash in the second half of the stage that knocked him out for some time. With the help of a quick intervention from the team, Santosh managed to finish the difficult stage at the 44th position, helping him to finish at the 40th position overall at the end of stage 10.

Stage 10 of the Dakar Rally was the first full stage in Argentina with a total run of 797 km out of which 373 kms were allocated to the special stage and an initial long liaison of 424 kms. It was meant to be navigation contest today, however, as the day progressed, the day turned into chaos, as the bad news of crashes, exits and riders getting lost kept on trickling into the bivouac through the day.

The competitors, however, will get only a few hours to shrug off the events of today and regain their composure as tomorrow’s Stage 11 is going to be the 2nd Marathon stage for the bike category.

For Oriol Mena of Hero MotoSports Team Rally, however it looked like a different rally altogether as he attacked from the very beginning, consistently maintaining his top 15 position through the day. He finished today’s stage in a very commendable 4th position, his best Dakar stage yet, owing to his gritty performance and flawless navigation. He also stopped and called for rescue for a fellow rider who crashed in front of him, displaying excellent sportsman’s spirit. Overall he stands at the 14th position at the end of stage 10 breaking into the top 15 rankings for the first time.

Meanwhile, Sherco-TVS' Joan Pedrero lies 17th overall after stage 10. The Spaniard is the sole rider remaining from the Sherco-TVS team after Adrian Metge and Aravind KP were both forced to retire due to injury during the Peruvian stages of the rally that also claimed Hero MotoSports' Joaquim Rodrgiues.