17 January 2003 - 19:53 Meoni loses all hopes, Alphand makes history Dakar 2003 : Stage 14 - 274 km

Stage 14 of the Telefonica Dakar 2003 between Dakhla and Luxor had its fare share of drama. A crash just before CP1 and Meoni's hopes of possible victory faded away. On the 274kms of the bike special Sainct eased to victory while the Italian lost over 22 minutes on the day. On four wheels, Luc Alphand made the history books with the first ever Dakar stage victory of a driver coming from another sport. The former skier also gave BMW their first win in the car category. In the truck race, Firdaus Kabirov clinched his 2nd straight special to overtake De Rooy for 3rd place overall while Russian compatriot Tchaguine added a few minutes to his overall lead.

Frontlights smashed, roadbook thrashed, added to a painful ankle and a sore back... It'll certainly take quite some time for Fabrizio Meoni (KTM - n.1) to forget this nightmare of a day. Km 171, a couple of metres from the first check point of the day, will be remembered as the place where the Italian definitely gave up all hope of a 3rd straight Dakar win.
"It was completely flat and I wasn't fully focused at over 150km/h. And suddenly the handlebar went from side to side and the bike went crazy. I still can't explain why. Maybe it's just the way it had to be because I had no reason to attack at that moment. The race for victory is over. Now all I want is to get to 'Sharm' in one piece with no more problems."
The stubborn Toscan went immediately back on his bike only to lose 4min50 on Sainct at CP1. But on a destroyed KTM, Meoni was forced to stop again and repair. On the finish line of the special, he had lost 22min37 on the day's winner Richard Sainct (KTM - n.3). Second was Cyril Despres (KTM - n.7) at 18sec while late starter Marc Coma managed a very encouraging third spot at 3min08 and PG Lundmark, first amateur of the special, finished fourth.
In the overall, Sainct can now count on a 11min20 lead on his Gauloises team mate Despres and over 39min21 on Meoni. The Frenchman remains, as usual extremely careful: "The race is not over yet. There still are three days. The best proof is that Meoni lost a lot of time today. It can happen to me tomorrow."
The day was a lot sadder for France's Alain Duclos (KTM - n.120). Eleven kilometres before the end of the special, the 10th biker overall was forced to pull out of the rally after breaking a leg and hurting his back on a crash.

Exactly like yesterday, the car race crowned a non-Mitsubishi representant for the 3rd time of the Dakar. After finishing second in Siwa and Dakhla, Luc Alphand (BMW - n.221) finally grabbed that win he was waiting for. For the first time in the rally's history, a driver coming from another sport (and not a motorsport) claims a special. Six years after winning the overall alpine skiing World Cup, 'Luco' writes his name in the Dakar book with a special win and as the driver of the first victorious Diesel car.
"Vatanen had a puncture. Maybe it's destiny. To be in front makes me so happy. People told me a few days ago when I finished second that I could become the first sportsman from another discipline to win a special. So the goal was to win a special. To finish twice second is great...today is fantastic."

Taking off in second spot behind Ari Vatanen, the Frenchman had trouble keeping up with the pace of the Finn: "Vatanen took off like a bullet in front of me. I couldn't see Vatanen anymore so I drove faster not to be too ashamed."
He eventually made the best of Vatanen's puncture and his navigational skill to finish the special only 22sec ahead of Fontenay (Mitsubishi - n.202) while De Villiers (Nissan - n.217) took third spot, 1min06 adrift, and Vatanen (Nissan - n.204) was fourth at 2min06. The quest for overall victory was rapidly overshadowed by Hiroshi Masuoka's (Mitsubishi - n.200) two punctures in the early stages of the special. After 274kms, Masuoka who finished 7th lost an extra 1min23 on Peterhansel (Mitsubishi - n.206), sixth of the day at 4min27.
"I just want to keep my second spot overall. I'm ready to leave the victory go to Peterhansel. I believe that Stephane has perhaps won the rally today", admitted Masuoka.

In the car overall, 'Peter' has a 27min13 lead on the Japanese and 2h25min28 on Fontenay. The biggest upset of the day was for Kleinschmidt (Volkswagen - n.202) who finished over 1h29 adrift after mechanical troubles. The German is under the pressure of Alphand in the battle for 9th spot.
"I still have the objective of overtaking Jutta in the overall. 25 minutes to catch up in two days is possible", insisted Alphand.

In the truck race, Firdaus Kabirov (Kamaz - n.412) stormed to stage victory. His team mate and overall leader Tchaguine (Kamaz - n.407) took it very easily finishing in second spot 29min13 and basing his race on that of his closest rival Andre De Azevedo (Tatra - n.410) who finished third at 31min21. In the overall, the biggest change concerns third spot with Kabirov overtaking De Rooy (Daf - n.409), fourth of the special at 41min17, by over 16 minutes. Meanwhile Tchaguine now has a 1h11in01 on De Azevedo.

Press info - rally Dakar, 16/01/2003