Last year's Dakar winner Marc Coma claimed the second stage of the 2012 event. The Spaniard beat Cyril Despres (+1m18s) and Joan Barreda (+2m33s) to move to the top of the provisional leaderboard.

Santa Rosa sits in the middle of the pampa and owes its growth to its location at the crossroads of Ruta 5, which leads to Buenos Aires, and Ruta 35, which strikes north to Cordoba. It is in the latter direction that the bikers headed out of the city at 5am today. A 400km road section took them to the start of the second stage.

The 300 or so kilometres to Santa Isabel were little more than a succession of monotonous straights across the Pampa Seca to a backdrop of sun-yellowed grass. A few solitary shrubs seem to survive in the arid conditions, and they are a natural draw for the parrots which spend their time jumping from branch to branch.

On arrival in Santa Isabel, the bikers forked left for the start of the stage near La Humada where the vegetation became thicker and also greener on the first slopes up to the Altiplanicie del Payun Matru which the riders could see in the distance.

The first 32km of wide, fast tracks were flat out. After that, though, last week's heavy rain made the going much rougher, with big crevasses in places, plus a number of rios to cross up to Km230. The ensuing sandier, undulating section eventually fed into the grey Nihuil dunes which competitors had to negotiate for the last 10km before the finish control.

It is here that Marc Coma succeeded in pulling clear of his team-mate and chief rival Cyril Despres. The Frenchman led early on and was 14 seconds faster than Coma up to the fourth split-time. The Spaniard was quicker through the Nihuil dunes, however, and he went on to take the provisional lead. Sunday's winner Lopez (Aprilia/Michelin) lost ground as the day progressed but collected the fourth-best time, 2m 44s behind Coma. David Casteu (Yamaha/Michelin) dropped more than seven minutes to the leader.

Marc Coma (KTM/Michelin): "It was a good day for me, my bike and my tyres. I didn't have any problems over the dunes. They were something of a surprise because of their unusual grey colour and the grass growing on them."

Leg 2 - positions:
1, Coma (KTM), 3h7m21s. 2, Despres (KTM), +1m18s. 3, Barreda (Husqvarna), +2m33s. 4, Lopez (Aprilia), +2m44s. 5, Przygonski (KTM), +4m17s. Etc.

Provisional overall positions:
1, Coma (KTM), 3h40m12s. 2, Lopez (Aprilia), +2m30s. 3, Despres (KTM), +2m52s. 4, Przygonski (KTM), +4m52s. 5, Barreda (Husqvarna), +8m16s. Etc.

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