World WRC Championship, Sardinia Rally. 3rd Stage
 VICTORY
FOR JORDI VILADOMS IN THE THIRD STAGE OF THE SARDINIA RALLY
The Repsol rider took command of the single special disputed
today. Gerard Farrés, back in Barcelona, went this
morning to the USP Institut Universitari Dexeus hospital
Jordi Viladoms learned well from yesterday's mistakes and
took command of the third stage, disputed between the towns
of San Teodoro and Gavoi, with 50 km of timed racing. Again,
the stage ran through a hard and sandy track, very slippery,
combined with much slower, trials-style areas. Viladoms skilfully
kept up a fast pace while closely observing the indications
in the roadbook, until he reached the finish line one second
faster than general classification leader Cyril Després.
The second special of the day, with Viladoms showing a fine
perfromance, was stopped due to a fall suffered by rider Paolo
Ceci, yesterday's winner, who had an accident and fell in
an area where the helicopter had difficulties reaching. The
special had to be stopped and a 4X4 was sent to evacuate him.
This special ran through a thick forest which is part of a
protected natural park, and where during the last few years
the race had been forbidden to pass through.
Viladoms finished the day satisfied, as tomorrow he will
open up the track and it is a fine opportunity to learn, as
he will not see any of the tracks left by preceding riders
and he shall have to pay close attention to navigation. It
is theoretically easier for those behind to catch up with
the first rider, but his strategy tomorrow will be to slow
down his pace slightly in order to get the navigation right
first time.
Gerard Farrés, out of the race yesterday after he
had a head-on crash with Casteu, who was riding in the opposite
direction when he got lost halfway through the special, was
back in Barcelona yesterday and this morning he visited the
USP Institut Universitari Dexeus hospital, where they carried
out a number of tests and X-rays on him in order to evaluate
the exact extent of the injury. After the exploration and
the results obtained, Dr Xavier mir declared that the Repsol
KTM Team rider, Gerard Farrés “has a lacerated
contused wound to his left foot, with a fracture to the third
metatarsal bone. A further check-up will be carried out early
next week to monitor the state of the wound and to avoid its
infection. He must observe a recovery period of three to four
weeks before returning to sports activities.”
Quotes
Jordi Viladoms >>
“Today went quite better and in the end I won. I went
out there taking it easy, but it looks like when you do things
well, calmly, the results come effortlessly. It was quite
a fast special, though on quite a slippery track, and after
yesterdays experience, I concentrated on following the roadbook
as best as I could.
In the end I didn't make any mistakes and was able to keep
up a good pace throughout the whole special. If you manage
just that -to keep up a constant pace and no mistakes- , things
like this can happen, and I was first. I had a good day and
I'm very happy; during the second special I think I was doing
even better. Apart from the result, which at the end of the
day is just a few decimal points faster than Cyril's, the
vibes on the bike are very good. And it's the third day, I'm
getting better with the roadbook, and feel much more comfortable
on the smaller bike. We'd been riding on the large bike in
Bulgaria, and I've gradually got used to this one and am enjoying
it a lot.”
Gerard Farrés >>
“This morning I went to the Dexeus hospital and they
had a good look at it. They did X-rays and saw there was a
broken metatarsal bone -though it's nothing serious-, and
that my foot is very swollen. So they've plastered it to keep
it still for a few days until the swelling is gone.
Then they'll do an elecromagnetic resonance to see in exactly
what state the ligaments in my ankle are in, as they can't
see it very well with the swelling, and to see how the tendons
in the affected toe are, where I got cut, to make sure they're
alright. To be honest I'm quite reassured, because I was afraid
it might be more serious. It's an injury and it's never nice
when these things happen, but it's not that complicated. I'll
miss a few races in Spain, but the important thing is that
I'll be recovered in a couple of months.”
Results
>> Stage Classification
1. Jordi VILADOMS (REPSOL KTM) 58:27.77
2. Cyril DESPRES (KTM) at 0.66
3. Luca MANCA (TM) at 1.90
4. Francisco LÓPEZ (KTM) at 55.77
5. David CASTEU (KTM) at 1:01.07
>> Provisional Classification (Rally)
1. Cyril DESPRES (KTM) 4:45:12
2. Alex ZANOTTI (APRILIA) at 5:32
3. Matteo GRAZIANI (KTM) at 6:45
4. Francisco LÓPEZ (KTM) at 8:37
5. Massimo CHIESA (KAWASAKI) at 8:46
6. Jordi VILADOMS (REPSOL KTM) at 13:06
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