2010 Dakar Rally Stage One: Reigning Champions Off the Top

The 2010 Dakar Rally is underway, and already the strain is showing on the men and machines taking on the 4,000 kilometres of racing ahead of them. The first casualty didn’t even get to make it the ceremonial start ramp and tour of the city streets of Buenos Aires, where the rally begins and ends. Argentine Javier Pizzolito's Honda caught on fire before even turning a wheel in anger. But bad luck and problems on the Dakar are indiscriminate of who you are, and they caught potential winner Frans Verhoeven out on the 320-kilometre "connection" part (an untimed journey from the camp to the start of the Special Stage) of Saturday’s opening stage, delaying him for 40 minutes. Eventually, the Dutchman and his BMW made it to the start of the f...

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