The first round of Dakar 2010 has concluded with a surprising first place to David Casteu with his Sherco, after 652 km of racing.
Second place went to Cyril Despres and third place to favourite Marc Coma, both riding KTM bikes.
Closing the top six were Jordi Viladoms (KTM), Francisco Lopez, with his Aprilia RXV 4.
5, and David Fretigne on a Yamaha.
One participant in the legendary race is veteran Franco Picco, riding a Yamaha WR450F, marking 25 years from his first Dakar rally.
The 54-year-old first appeared back in 1985 with a Yamaha TT600, winning overall third place.
Picco’s start has been marked with a sinister gesture though, when he found his bike sabotaged with someone having poured sugar in the engine.
Luckily, it hasn’t created any permanent damage and he has been able to continue.
The first round was also marked with tragedy, when a female spectator was killed by a car going out of control in one area.
Other spectators were injured, one seriously, when the Hyundai of Mirco Schultis and Ulrich Leardi, lost control in the Rio Cuarto area of the race.
The top ten finish after the first day is as follows:1 David Casteu (FRA/Sherco) 1hr50min422 Cyril Despres (FRA/KTM) +3sec3 Marc Coma (ESP/KTM) +124 Javier Viladoms (ESP/KTM) +1min455 Francisco Lopez (CHI/Aprilia) +2min426 David Fretigne (FRA/Yamaha) +2min577 Jakub Przygonski (POL/KTM) +3min108 Paulo Goncalves (POR/BMW) +3min299 Ruben Faria (POR/KTM) +4min0310 Helder Rodrigues (POR/Yamaha) +4min30