400km blind in the Atacama desert

Imagine yourself lost in the desert, a scorching sun beating down, astride a half-destroyed motorbike, having got up at 4am - without a fixed course. With a destination, but without a path to follow to reach it.

Jordi Viladoms, former Dakar champion Marc Coma's former support rider, on Monday found himself without a GPS, without a mileometer, without Iritrack (the system that allows the organizers of the Dakar Rally to follow the movements of each rider), without the route book and without any landmarks to guide him. Viladoms rode 400 kilometers like this, over the dunes of the Atacama desert.

"I followed the tire tracks of the others, being careful not to pass any required check points," he said when he arrived at the camp. In addition to losing the front part of his Yamaha, which houses all the electronic systems that permit off-road navigation, Viladoms also found himself without gasoline just over a kilometer away from camp. He had to get a tow from a generous competitor, Antonio Gimeno, who attached a rope to his bike and dragged it over the line. Viladoms staggered over the line as well, but was unable to reach his team tent on his own two feet because he was so dehydrated.

Gimeno also went to the Yamaha tent and picked up a mechanic to go and fetch Viladoms' bike; the Catalan rider could barely stand. The stage took him eight hours and 21 minutes to complete. He finished in 56th place, and fell to 14th in the overall standing. When the mechanics pored over his bike, it became evident that the front piece where the devices are located had been defective. It had broken off simply because of the clattering Viladoms' Yamaha received on the unforgiving desert terrain. David Barrot, his teammate, hit a rock and ended up in hospital.

"Finishing up without gasoline killed me. There must have been a leak. I don't know where I am at the moment but at least I've arrived," he said.

Viladoms was prescribed rest, a lot of water, and food. He recovered well enough to finish 15th in Tuesday's stage, regaining two places in the general classification. Viladoms capitalized on a mistake by the lead group, the top 10 in the standing, including Marc Coma and Cyril Despres, who took a wrong turn and went three kilometers in the opposite direction. But a rock in the road reminded him that luck can be capricious. It spun up and gave him a good whack in the hip. Viladoms had a slight limp in the evening, but he was happy. His aim is to reach Buenos Aires in the top 10.

In the car rally, Carlos Sainz's bid to retain the Dakar Rally title suffered a setback on the Copiapo-Chilecito Stage 10. The Spaniard, attempting to rein in overall leader Nasser Al-Attiyah, endured a series of problems, from a puncture to a unscheduled stop atop a dune. Sainz eventually crossed the line 18 minutes behind stage winner Giniel de Villiers and he now trails Al-Attiyah by 00:12.37 in the overall standing.

"It was, frankly, a bad day," Sainz said. "It was a struggle to get the car out [of the dune] and we lost the route two or three times."