Spanish motorcycle rider Marc Coma blew his chances of a second successive Dakar Rally win on Friday when he lost his way in the desert, hit a tree and knocked himself unconscious.
The runaway leader was picked up by a medical helicopter just 57km into the 13th stage from Kayes to Tambacounda in Senegal, coming round at the bivouac before being flown to hospital in Dakar for further examination of a head injury.
Until then, Coma had looked a certainty for victory, enjoying a dominant lead with only one significant timed stage remaining to come on Saturday before Sunday’s largely ceremonial final stint at the Lac Rose in Senegal.
In the car category, Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel increased his lead over Mitsubishi teammate and defending champion Luc Alphand to 11 minutes and 15 seconds. Spaniard Carlos Sainz won the stage for Volkswagen.
Coma’s troubles began when the KTM rider seemed most in command. The Dakar website said the Spaniard was seen to lose his way.
”Several minutes later, he hit a tree stump on a parallel track 6km away from the ideal route and was thrown against a tree,” the website reported.
It said Coma had stood up initially but then lost consciousness. The helicopter arrived shortly afterwards.
”Marc is hurting a lot but he is okay,” said Coma’s team manager Jordi Arcarons. ”He hasn’t broken anything. He’s going to have a series of medical examinations in Dakar and then Barcelona.
”The damage to his morale is worse than the physical damage,” added Arcarons.
The Spaniard’s abrupt exit left the 2005 winner, Frenchman Cyril Despres, in the lead after starting the day almost an hour adrift of Coma.
Despres won the stage and overall he is 35 minutes ahead of compatriot David Casteu, also on a KTM, with American Chris Blais in third place.
It was a bad day for another previously frontrunning Spaniard, Isidre Esteve, who won Thursday’s stage and had been sixth overall. The KTM rider fell 500m from the first checkpoint and severely damaged his bike.
”Just before I got to [the first checkpoint] I found Isidre on the ground next to his bike,” said Casteu. ”He asked me what he was doing there, where he was.” ‒ Reuters