Battling with Joan Barreda since the start in Buenos Aires, Marc Coma finally tasted victory on the Dakar 2015, regaining 2m16s on his countryman during stage five on Thursday.

While he does not possess the experience of Coma, Barreda is without doubt just as smart. After having opened a further gap of two minutes on the KTM rider on Wednesday between Chilecito and Copiapo, the official Honda HRC rider had to open the way today, pursued by Coma.

This situation only lasted for thirty kilometres, since Barreda preferred to let his countryman lead the way and set the pace. This strategy paid off, because although he gave up slightly more than two minutes to his rival in the general standings, Barreda retains a considerable lead on arrival in Antofagasta.

However, it is not a gap that is likely to worry Coma, savouring his first success of 2015 and intending to use the marathon stage to make the difference.

Behind this duel between the leading duo, Pablo Quintanilla is taking on a new dimension. For his third Dakar, after having dropped out twice, the Chilean put in another noteworthy performance in his home country by completing a second consecutive day as the third placed finisher.

These performances have helped him climb up to fourth in the general standings at a little more than eight minutes behind a solid-looking Paulo Gonçalves, on the look-out for the slightest mistake from the Coma/Barreda duo.

Slovakian Stefan Svitko can also be satisfied with his day, finishing 3m54s behind the winner, whilst Jordi Viladoms and Ruben Faria both lost plenty of time. The Yamaha clan is still a significant distance behind the best.

KTM Australia’s Toby Price had another strong showing with 10th on the stage, which places him eighth in the standings. Llewellyn Sullivan-Pavey was 60th on stage and Simon Pavey 69th, the pair now ranked 69th and 71st overall. Clayton Jacobsen was yet to finish the stage as of this morning.

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