Coma and Viladoms crossing the final finishing line together on stage 3

From KTM

The long stage from Puerto Madryn to Jacobacci smiled on the Repsol KTM team with Marc Coma and Jordi Viladoms crossing the final finishing line together ahead of their rivals.

Less fortunate was their KTM team mate Cyril Despres (Red Bull KTM) who again suffered tyre problems and had to wait for his support rider Alain Duclos to ‘lend' him his rear wheel.

Marc Coma (Repsol KTM)
It was a good day for us. I started in 17th place but fortunately there was a lot of wind so dust wasn't a problem. The biggest challenge was finding the right compromise between preserving the tyre and maintaining a good speed. Once again today we opted for a tube. It is a very difficult decision to make because nobody has much experience of riding here, but for this stage at least it seemed like the right choice. Tonight we will again have a good look at our road book before making any decisions for the fourth stage. Here we can only make tactics day by day.

Jordi Viladoms (Repsol KTM)
I started fourth this morning and took it easy to let Marc (Coma) catch me up. Then I was able to follow him and the time I lost waiting I made up for in his ‘slipstream'. It is a little scary riding with the tube you have to be always looking out for stones and over the first part there was a lot o them. Later on the piste became much smoother and we could open the throttle a bit more.

Provisional results after 3rd stage
1. Marc Coma, Spain, KTM
2. Pal Anders Ullevalseter, Norway, KTM
3. Jordi Viladoms, Spain, KTM
4. David Casteu, France, KTM
5. Guell Farres, Spain, KTM

Provisional overall standings
1. Marc Coma, Spain, KTM
2. David Fretigne, France, Yamaha
3. Pal Anders Ullevalseter, Norway, KTM
4. Jacek Czachor, Poland, KTM
5. Jonah Street, USA, KTM