David Fr?©tign?© (Yamaha WR450F - Yamaha MF Gauloises Ipone) put in another
great performance yesterday. Fr?©tign?© was the fastest after 246 km (CP2),
but in the end it was Australian Andy Caldecott who won the stage 2′06 ahead
of the Yamaha Moto France rider. David retains his fifth overall, 7 minutes
ahead of Caldecott (KTM).

With the entry in Mali riders had to face a different type of terrain,
changing the desert for the scenery of black Africa. Riders left early in
the morning, all wearing a mourning-band, for a liaison of 205 km to reach
the start of the special. Andy Caldecott and Chris Blair were the two
fastest riders at CP1 ahead of Fr?©tign?©. Overall leader Cyril Despres (KTM)
lost 6′35″ after a light crash damaging his exhaust. The second part of the
day saw a more technical course. Fr?©tign?© perfectly displayed his riding
skills, but his WR450F was outgunned in sheer speed by Caldecott’s 660cc
bike on a fast section near the end of the stage. Despres finished seventh
in the end, the Frenchman now has lead of 16′06″ over Coma. Dutch Yamaha
rider Bas Verhoeven (WR450F)finished 18th and is 16th in overall standings,
third in the Production two class.

“Wednesday was really a tough day with the cancellation of the stage,”
commented Fr?©tign?©. “Everbody was pondering about the events of Tuesday and
it’s not very good. Actually it would have been better not to cancel the
special of Bamako to give our minds some rest. Yesterday’s stage was
beautiful, very technical and I enjoyed riding it. But even just riding
again did not come easy. I really had to concentrate during the race not to
think about Fabrizio, but luckily it worked well for me and I finished
second. Just a shame that there was so much dust. The 14th stage will be
very similar and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Tomorrow the competitors tackle the last big special of the 2005 Dakar - 630
km from Kayes to Cambacounda.