Dakar 2010: Stage Two

Dakar 2010 is like no other Dakar before..... for those of us who couldn't go.  Thanks to web 2.0 and social media we have live updates streaming continuously with blogs and microblogs (twitter).   And thus it was this morning, the second stage of the Dakar Rally started with an uproar.  The Dakar site mistakenly reported that Despres had withdrawn.  I knew it couldn't be possible, yet there it was in black and white (gold and brown, actually).  I had about 5 or 10 minutes of panic-driven buzz before I could ascertain it was an error on the site, Despres had not withdrawn.   Throughout the rally, we had continuous updates on who's in the lead, who's in trouble, who's called in assistance, and in some harrowing cases, who's rolled a few times.  Such excitement!

There's one thing all the motorcyclists are reporting from the second day of the Dakar Rally:  Fog.  Lots and lots of fog.   "Driving in the fog during the second stage was a bit scary," said Thomas Berglund (Team Scandinavia).   "When passing through the mountain range it was hard to see anything further away than 20 meters."

Another Swedish rider, Annie Seel encountered a little more than fog:  "The stage of today was very, very foggy the first 100km, hard to distinguish pretty much anything.  At one point, I almost encountered a cow that was standing on the road -- ha, ha, he didn't know on which side I was gonna pass, and I didn't know where he was heading."  Seel avoided the cow and was actually thankful for the rain and mud, saying it was an advantage because of all the rain, mud and clay she has experienced in Sweden.

Seel, by the way, started day one at the 76th position, started day two at the 45th position and will start day three at the 35th position.  She's got both stage wins now with Mirjam Pol breathing down her neck. 

And back to the men.... a David has won both stages.  Stage one was David Casteu and Stage two was David Fretigne, nudging Casteu into the number two slot.  (I've been humbled that a Yamaha and a Sherco came out ahead of the KTM beasts.)   At the end of Stage Two, overall it's (possibly) Casteu, Coma, Despres.   Although I am finding conflicting results at this time about the overall standings.  It's possible that the overall standings are Casteu, Despres, Fretigne.  Coma was hindered by a 22-minute penalty for speeding through a village and this may be why he is out of the top three overall on some reports and not on others. 

Jonah Street had a small crash today and PanAm reports that he is fine and the bike is a little scraped up, but fixable.  My favorite newcomer, Andrew Neri,  is keeping up with his twitter account, the excitement  of his first Dakar is palpable.

The Dakar is hot right now.  Literally.  Tomorrow's supposed to hit 122 degrees in Fiambala.  Sunburn will become an issue as much as fog and mud have been.  Click on the theDakarBlog here for interesting updates or click on the Raceteevee.com site for great videos.  Get some rest.  Tomorrow will be just as exciting!