The second part of the marathon stage was 206km long, and it didn't help that the riders had to experience another bad sandstorm the previous night. Still, Oriol Mena on the Honda managed to finish the stage on top, with Alessandro Botturi second. Xavier de Soultrait seems to have mastered the art of consistency, bringing it home in third place on the stage. Joaquim Rodrigues had the ride of his life, bringing home the Hero in fourth place, a mere 1:07 behind the leader.
On J.Rod's heels were Adrian Metge and Juan Pedrero Garcia of Sherco TVS. Aravind KP was third of the team back in 22nd place. Abdul Wahid Tanveer continued his steady progress with a 24th place stage finish. CS Santosh finished a lowly 39th, but that was due to a bad crash that left his shoulder injured, and his bike damaged.
There's just one day left, and in the overall standings, Xavier de Soultrait holds a lead of 12:43 over Gerard Farres. Franco Caimi is third, and Juan Pedrero fourth on the Sherco TVS. Joaquim Rodrigues stands 9th while his teammate Santosh is in 18th place. Three places behind him is Aravind KP, and Abdul Wahid Tanveer in 27th.
Stage 6, run on the final day, is a special, a 50km loop with a start that will have all competitors start at the same time. It should make for quite a spectacle!
