The competitors were greeted today with another day of fog, dust and fast riding as the stage 8 went underway from San Juan De Marcona to Pisco.
Hero MotoSports riders seemed to have turned a leaf in their Dakar campaign as unlike the first half marred by crashes, they continue to make gains on the third consecutive stage.
Joaquim continued to push hard against the fog and dust to bring in another good stage to his name. However, he seemed to have done some damage to his back while tackling the fast stage amidst the fog and poor visibility. He clearly looked in pain as he arrived at the finish, but not before posting a 13th position in stage 8, enabling him to break into the top 20 bracket with a 18th place standing in the overall classifications.
Oriol Mena posted another flawless stage with no mistakes and continued his last push to gain some valuable time over his close competitors. He finished the stage 8 in 12th place and inched closer to the top 10, with an 11th place in the overall standings.
Today’s stage was another fast stage that was impacted by foggy conditions in the beginning that created some impairment for the riders. Being the “Super Ica