In the duel already being fought by Marc Coma and Cyril Despres, Coma took a very slim advantage in the fourth stage of the Personal Dakar Argentina Chile, on a day on which the rally entered Chilean territory.

Neither of them is particularly keen on suspense. Thus, there is nothing pre-meditated about the contest which Despres and Coma have established since the grand start in Buenos Aires.

This morning, after crossing the Andes, with a not inconsiderable altitude of 4800 to climb, the Spaniard was the first at the starting line, the most delicate position on the Dakar, because by definition, the competitor opening the way has no tracks to follow.

That said, Coma has already shown his expertise in navigation in addition to his skill behind the handlebars.

Over 200 kilometres of the route, he started by distancing Despres, who then in turn made up for some of the time lost on the second part of the route.

In Calama, Coma still managed to maintain an edge, with a time 16 minutes quicker than his main rival. The provisional outcome shows the extent to which the two masters of the discipline can manage to neutralise each other.

After 1220km of timed sections so far, Coma only holds first place by a slim gap of two seconds, while both men have two stage victories each.

Behind them, ‘Chaleco’ Lopez would surely have liked to enter Chile as a winner, just like he did the first time the Dakar visited his country. However, his starting position of 11th made it a difficult task.

In total, he still managed to grab the third best time of the day on his Aprilia, trailing Coma by 2:05.

An increasingly regular performer at this level, Olivier Pain took fourth position, like yesterday, 6:20 behind the stage winner, but the 12 minute penalty given to the Yamaha rider on stage two pushes him back to 12th place in the general standings.

For the moment, the fight for the third place on the podium, currently occupied by Lopez, is taking place 20 minutes behind Coma.

Of the Aussies, Jacob Smith dropped to 35th overall, Simon Pavey sits 89th, while Warren Strange is 94th and Mark Davidson 107th.

Dakar Rally 2011
Stage 4 Results
1. Marc Coma, Spain, KTM
2. Cyril Despres, Andorra, KTM
3. Francisco Lopez, Chile, Aprilia
4. Jose Rodrigues, Brazil, BMW
5. Olivier Pain, France, Yamaha
49. Warren Strange, Australia, Honda
72. Simon Pavey, Australia, BMW
86. Jacob Smith, Australia, Honda
138. Mark Davidson, Australia, Honda

Overall Standings After Stage 4
1. Marc Coma, Spain, KTM
2. Cyril Despres, Andorra, KTM
3. Francisco Lopez, Chile, Aprilia
4. Paolo Goncalves, Portugal BMW
5. Jose Rodrigues, Brazil, BMW
35. Jacob Smith, Australia, Honda
89. Simon Pavey, Australia, BMW
94. Warren Strange, Australia, Honda
107. Mark Davidson, Australia, Honda