French driver Luc Alphand and Spanish rider Marc Coma won their
first Dakar Rally on Sunday but both lamented the accidents which
killed two young boys and an Australian competitor during the
9,000-km race.
As a tribute to the three victims, organizers decided not to
time Sunday's 110-km last stage around Lac Rose, a scenic salt lake
set amid beachside sand dunes north east of Dakar.
The rally ended as always with a podium finish and the prize
presentations but the event was overshadowed by the deaths of
motorcyclist Andy Caldecott, who crashed during the ninth stage on
Monday, and the two young African boys who were hit by vehicles on
Friday and Saturday.
"It really raises the question of safety," said spectator
Hussein Ousman, who has seen the rally arrive in Dakar 20 times.
"These deaths are terrible. We cannot have this. Something must be
done about it."
Mitsubishi driver Alphand, winner of the 1997 Alpine skiing
World Cup, won the cars division with a 17 minutes and 53 second
lead overall over Volkswagen driver Giniel De Villiers of South
Africa. Last year's winner, Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel, came
fourth.
"The rally is hard and unfortunately this year there were some
accidents," Alphand said.
Coma dedicated his victory to his fellow KTM rider Caldecott, a
four-times winner of the Australia Safari, who was competing in his
third Dakar and had won the third stage of this year's race.
"I dedicate this to Andy, who had the bad luck to be involved in
an accident and lost his life," Coma said.
The race has now claimed 48 lives, including eight children, 23
competitors and the founder of the rally Thierry Sabine, in its
28-year history.
Chinese driver Xu Lang of the Paladin team finished 19th in the
overall standings of the Dakar Rally, followed by teammate Zhou
Yong in 43rd place.
Xu's position equaled that of Zhou in last year's race, the best
result Chinese drivers have ever achieved in the grueling
event.
(Reuters via China Daily and China.org.cn January 16,
2006)