Thursday, November 24, 2005

Dakar 2006 route unveiled

The 9043 kilometre 2006 Dakar Rally route has been unveiled in Paris. The 28th running of the desert classic starts on December 31, 2005 in Lisbon, Portugal and after a 16-day trek finishes in the Senegalese capital Dakar on January 15, 2006.

The 508 competitors expect 15 demanding stages through Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Mauritania, Mali, Guinea and Senegal. A total of 4813 kilometres must be completed against the clock on the 15 special stages.

The Rally starts with a pair of long stages in Europe before a difficult Morocco section with the route running further east in the shadow of the Atlas Mountains.

Following the Moroccan stage finishes in Er Rachidia, Ouarzazate and Tan Tan the competitors reach Mauritania on January 5. The service points in Zouerat and Atar are followed by the rest-day in the capital Nouakchott on January 8.

Immediately afterwards the teams must complete the rally’s longest leg of 599 special stage kilometres on the road to Kiffa. The trip through Mali is capped off by two further stage finishes in Kayes and Bamako on January 10 and 11 before the rally crosses Guinea for the first time in many years, where servicing is prohibited at the half-way-point in Labé on the Marathon stage held there.

The final three competitive stages are on the agenda between January 13 and 15 on the run in to Dakar.

Date Departure > Arrival Liaison Special Liaison Total
31/12/05 Lisboa > Portimão 186 km 83 km 101 km 370 km
01/01/06 Portimão > Málaga 65 km 115 km 387 km 567 km
02/01/06 Nador > Er Rachidia 237 km 314 km 121 km 672 km
03/01/06 Er Rachidia > Ouarzazate 56 km 386 km 197 km 639 km
04/01/06 Ouarzazate > Tan Tan 187 km 350 km 282 km 819 km
05/01/06 Tan Tan > Zouérat 336 km 444 km 12 km 792 km
06/01/06 Zouérat > Atâr 10 km 499 km 12 km 521 km
07/01/06 Atâr > Nouakchott 34 km 508 km 26 km 568 km
08/01/06 Rest day - Nouakchott
09/01/06 Nouakchott > Kiffa 30 km 599 km 245 km 874 km
10/01/06 Kiffa > Kayes 1 km 283 km 49 km 333 km
11/01/06 Kayes > Bamako 50 km 231 km 424 km 705 km
12/01/06 Bamako > Labé 197 km 368 km 307 km 872 km
13/01/06 Labé > Tambacounda 7 km 348 km 212 km 567 km
14/01/06 Tambacounda > Dakar 107 km 254 km 273 km 634 km
15/01/06 Dakar > Dakar 38 km 31 km 41 km 110 km
TOTAL 1 541 km 4 813 km 2 689 km 9 043 km

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

What an insightful post! I love your blog saad. I found it while looking up southern living at home catalog and now check back in every few weeks to read up on all you have to say. Thanks for posting and do keep at it.

5:26 PM, November 26, 2005  

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