After nine stages and over 4,500 km travelled, Aprilia is still in the lead in the Africa Eco Race, the rally raid which started last 30 December in the Principality of Monaco and which, crossing the Western Sahara, will arrive on Sunday 14 January in Dakar. In its absolute debut on the sands of the African desert, the Tuareg masterfully driven by Jacopo Cerutti continues to amaze and defends, stage after stage, the record that has belonged to it since the first day of the race.
At the end of the ninth stage, held today on the dunes of Mauritania, Cerutti and his Tuareg confirmed their lead in the general classification: coming second, sharing most of the route with his direct rivals in the standings, the Como rider can still count on 1’04 ” ahead of Alessandro Botturi, winner today, while Pol Tarres is now 24 minutes and 27 seconds behind.
A fight on the edge of seconds is therefore expected, with the race that will be decided in the next two stages, the last in which it will be possible to make a selection before the final parade on Sunday 14 January, which includes only 15 km of special stage near Lake Rosa in Dakar
Jacopo Cerutti: “I was expecting one of the most challenging stages, but in reality today the dunes were easier to deal with than yesterday. I therefore enjoyed a great journey, even if in truth I’m starting to feel a little tired, I now have very little residual energy. Even today I found myself covering almost the entire stage together with Botturi and Tarres; they always remained behind me, perhaps hoping that I might make some mistakes, but I didn’t make any mistakes and so we end this day at the top of the standings too. Tomorrow Botturi will start in front of me and I will have the opportunity to catch up with him, if I succeed I will manage the situation based on the tactics that he will adopt”.
Tomorrow the tenth stage, from Amodjar to Akjoujt: 415 km and 390 special.
Automatic translation of the Italian version
Source Aprilia Racing
