Buhler 3rd after Stage 1; J Rod suffers navigational issues, finishes Day 2 in 9th

David Bodapati May 13, 2021

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Sebastian Buhler finishes Stage1 in thrid place on Thursday. A Hero MotoSports image

Villamartin (Spain), 13 May 2021: The charge for the team today was led by the rising young star Sebastian Buhler, who made a flawless run to bring in a podium finish in the stage, securing the 3rd spot. He was closely tailed by Franco, who balanced caution with aggression to hold on to his Top 5 spot with a 4^th place finish today.

Joaquim Rodrigues, after his win in the prologue stage, had to deal with the difficult task of opening a stage today, a task that is rarely easy. A navigation mistake added to his woes as he lost some time in finding his way. However, he subsequently managed to tackle the stage well to make it to the finish line safely in 9^th place.

Today’s solid effort from the riders resulted in Buhler retaining the 3rd place in the overall standings, Franco holding onto to his spot in the Top 5 in 4^th place and JRod settling inside the Top 10 nicely in 8^th place.

Joaquim Rodriques said: “It was a tough day for me opening the stage. I also made a mistake in navigation that cost me a lot of time in getting myself back on track. These things happen in a rally, but I am happy that I managed to bring my bike home. Tomorrow is a new day and stage, so we’ll take it one day at a time.”

Sebastian Buhler said: “It was a good and positive stage for me. I started with a bit of caution because we had ruts and tall grass all around, making it difficult to spot the dangers. So, I changed my riding style a bit to adapt to the terrain and rode without any mistakes to make it safely across the finish line with a good result.”

Franco Caimi said: “It was a good second contact with the bike in a beautiful stage. We had an early morning start so the visibility was not that good, but I had good fun riding today. In the first part of the stage, I had a minor fall, hurt my knee a bit but regained my confidence and rode comfortably through to the finish.”

Provisional Stage 1 Rankings: