"I attacked from the beginning"

Dakar 2019 | Stage 6 | Arequipa > San Juan de Marcona
January 13 ^th 2019 - 14:43 [GMT -5]

Pablo Quintanilla could not have dreamt of a better start to the second half of the rally. The Chilean overcame a problem with the road book to take stage 6 ahead of Kevin Benavides and seize the overall lead, with less than 5 minutes separating the two South American riders.

"It was a hard stage. I attacked from the beginning, caught Kevin and overtook him. At km 290, I had a problem with the road book and was unable to read it, so I had to follow Kevin. We were near the finish when I got a fuel running. In the end, it was a blessing in disguise to have to ride behind because, if I'd kept on attacking at the same pace, I would've run out of petrol. In the end, it was a tough and stressful day, but it's a fantastic finish."