advrider Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 Today, Africa Eco Race contestants ran a tough loop course through the desert, starting and ending in the village of Akjoujt. Over the years, this has been one of the most famous stages of the Eco Race, and today the terrain lived up to its reputation for difficulty. Many competitors were out in the desert until late in the afternoon; organizers expected stragglers to maybe even be rolling in after dark. [embedded content] It’s one more indication that the Eco Race is picking up where the old Dakar left off when it left Africa in 2008. Now, the Dakar Rally is a tightly-controlled affair that starts, runs and ends in Saudi Arabia. The Eco Race starts in Europe (sort of) and ends at Dakar, often along the same routes as the original rally, and in many ways, it has the spirit of the original. It’s not on the FIM’s official Cross Country Rallies schedule, though, so riders cannot add points to their totals in that series, and therefore it’s a big risk to take. This year, with Andalucia running concurrently, there’s no way most factory teams would head to the Eco Race instead. However, for teams and riders outside the FIM-approved structure, this is a very romantic return to the roots of modern desert racing. Today’s stage win went to Maurizio Gerini, who started a minute back of Stefan Svitko, but crossed at the same time. That means Svitko still leads the overall race, and he’ll start in the second slot tomorrow behind Gerini, allowing to possibly pad his lead a bit. Not much, if he’s only a minute back; and you can bet there are all sorts of calculations running in these riders’ minds now. Rally raid success is very much determined by knowing when to follow other riders, as much as it’s determined by knowing when to pin it to win it. As we get closer to the end of the race, savvy riders must know just how much of a lead they can build up without worrying about being reeled in the next day. Scratch results for Stage 8 below, followed by current overall standings. Stage 8 Scratch Etape 8 AKJOUJT / AKJOUJT Classement sur Secteur Sélectif 8 – 423,8 km – 26/10/2022 45 concurrent(s) classé(s) Overall standings after Stage 8 Etape 8 AKJOUJT / AKJOUJT Classement Général – 26/10/2022 44 concurrent(s) classé(s) Vezi sursa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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