Hero MotoSports' riders CS Santosh and Oriol Mena hold 35th and 10th place overall after the end of stage 11 of the Dakar Rally. Joan Pedrero of Sherco-TVS is now 14th overall as stage 12 has been cancelled for bike and quad competitors.
Stage 11 was the first leg of the Marathon stage as they covered a liaison of 205 kms and a special stage of 280 km to camp overnight in the Fiambala Mountains.
Oriol Mena continued with his great form today as well to finish the first leg of the Marathon at 9th position. This result allowed him to break into the overall top 10 position at the 10th spot.
CS Santosh played it steady today to gain as much ground as he could in the last few remaining stages. He did really well to reach the Fiambala bivouac today to finish the stage at 33rd place which now takes him to the overall ranking of 34 at the end of stage 11.
Stage 11 of the Dakar Rally left the riders without the assistance crew for the second time in the rally. Today they will be left to their own devices to tend to themselves as well as their bikes. The stage, challenged the riders with lots of lose sand and some bit of soil.
The twelfth stage of the rally has been cancelled for the bike and quad competitors, however, leaving CS Santosh one less stage to make up time.
Here is the official statement from the rally organizers.
Following the study of the safety conditions for bikes and quads race tomorrow, despite a first modification of the stage announced this afternoon, having consulted the competitors groupped at Fiambala’s marathon bivouac, the Race Direction has taken the decision to cancel the 12th special stage for bikes and quads.
The first bike will start the liaison from Fiambala to San Juan’s bivouac at 6 a.m.
The cars and trucks race remains unchanged.
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