It was Day 2 of the world's most difficult races and the Indian contingent - Sherco TVS and Hero MotoSport Speedbrain managed to complete the day with their share of highs and lows. Stage 2 saw Hero riders Joaquim Rodrigues and CS Santosh showed steady pace through the competitive stage, while TVS witnessed a major setback as its Indian rider Aravind KP injured his hand breaking two bones, but was able to finish the stage; while Joan Pedrero lost the lead gained at the end of Stage 1 in the Moto category.
Hero MotoSports - Dakar Rally 2017 Stage 2
It was a difficult day for Sherco TVS after setting a good pace on Day 1. The team faced a major issue after its Indian rider Aravind KP saw a crash, thereby breaking fracturing his wrist as he traversed the 803 km distance, of which 275 km comprised the special timed section. Nevertheless, the Bangalore-based rider managed to finish the stage but has dropped dramatically to 125th, having started finished 63rd on Day 1. The slow pace was also attributed to Aravind towing his teammate Adrian Metge for 70 km (and then 100 km transport) with a broken hand, further slowing him down.
undefinedHere's @aravindkp85 on a long & tough day where he rode with a broken wrist & also towed his stranded teammate back to bivouac #Dakar2017 pic.twitter.com/u6eQkPHzww
— Sirish Chandran (@SirishChandran) January 3, 2017
Meanwhile, Joan Pedrero who was promoted to the lead in at the end of Stage 1 continued to maintain steady pace but dropped down to 9th place at the end of Stage 2. The long day ensured that Pedrero not only had to deal with uncharted water pools in the initial part of the race but also deal with animals and dust throughout the timed section.
Joaqium Rodrigues - Hero MotoSport Stage 2
After building steady pace yesterday, Hero riders seemed more confident on Stage 2. With temperatures exceeding 40-degrees, Rodrigues started the day at the 16th place, but soon encountered problems with his GPS, forcing him to slow down. The pace did take a toll on his total time and the Portugal rider was down by six places, finishing 22nd in 2 hours 51 minutes and 53 seconds.
Meanwhile, CS Santosh showed stark improvement over his conservative start on Day 1 having finished 47th. Stage 2 saw the Indian rider tackle uncharted water bodies in the first half of the race that did take a toll on his time, while the second half saw the rider push as he managed to finish 37th in 3 hours 7 minutes and 41 seconds, a gain of 10 places compared to Day 1.
Joan Pedrero - TVS Sherco Stage 2
The third stage that will run from San Miguel De Tucuman to San Salvador Jujuy, and will see Hero maintain its steady pace. On the other hand, TVS' Aravind will be looking to rebuild the lost pace. Being his debut at Dakar, the rider will be looking to complete the grueling race.
For Stage 3, the riders will see dramatic changes in temperature and altitude. On the 780-km stage, out which 416 km will be marked as timed section, the riders will rapidly climb the Andes, reaching the maximum height of this Dakar at 5000 metres (16,404 ft) during a crossing of a high pass, before finishing the special at 3000 metres (9842 ft).
