Day 4 of the Dakar 2017 started from San Salvador de Jujuy covering 780 km to Tupiza in Bolivia and included the 364 km special stage. The Bolivian soil proved to be quite difficult for the frontrunners. Joan Barreda Bort, fastest on Day 3 astride his Honda, lost time on Bolivian soil with Price and Walkner catching him up fast. 2016 winner Toby Price crashed out of contention on his KTM with a broken femur while teammate Walkner went ahead to beat Joan Barreda to be the fastest on Day 4.
Maverick French rider Xavier de Soultrait who had his claim to fame for being the fastest on Day 1 showed grit to finish five minutes off Walkner while Svitko claimed the final podium for the day, over eight minutes behind the race leader. Hero Speedbrain’s Joaquim Rodrigues was the fastest amongst the Indian teams finishing on P18 overall at the end of Day 4. Teammate CS Santosh incurred a 60 minute penalty for missing a waypoint on Day 3 and started at P104 on Day 4. Despite the setback, CS Santosh carried good pace to finish on P64 on Day 4 and P79 overall.
TVS-Sherco’s Juan Pedrero Garcia had a bad day finishing on P66 for Day 4 with an engine failure and 15 minutes engine change penalty pushing him down to P44 at the end of the day after starting at P14. Teammate Adrian Metge displayed commendable sportsmanship when he towed Pedrero to the finish line at the cost of his race pace. Metge finished on P44.
Day 5 will see the competitors from Tupiza to Oruro over 692km including a 447 km special stage.
Day 4 results:
1. Matthias Walkner
2. Xavier de Soultrait +05:58
3. Stefan Svitko +08:33
4. Pablo Quintanilla +09:22
5. Gerard Farres Guell +10:24
Overall Results
1. Pablo Quintanilla
2. Matthias Walkner +02:07
3. Stefan Svitko +05:52
4. Sam Sunderland +06:12
5. Gerard Farres Guell +12:02
