Hero MotoSports’ riders finish stage two in top ten

Hero MotoSports team’s Joaquim Rodrigues secured the fifth position in the second stage of the Silk Way rally, immediately followed by teammates Sebastian Buhler and Franco Caimi who finished in the sixth and seventh position. Caimi and Buhler also ended up in the top five overall rankings at second and fifth place respectively.

The 132km long second stage in the Siberian forests of Russia began with wide openings and moved onto narrow bumpy trails through the trees in the forest. Before the end of the stage, the riders got a smoother and sandy trail to gain speed before the finish on the gravel road. A legendary mountain road called Chuysky Trakt, along which the liaison after the stage end ran, led to the bivouac at Gorno-Altaysk.

J-Rod got a penalty for a late start in stage one due to some electrical issue on his bike and is currently running in P10 overall. Even after a few close calls in the Siberian Forest, he managed to finish with a good time. He said, “Forest sections were really dangerous, with bumps that could not be seen easily due to the grass. Overall, it was a good stage.”

After the win in the first stage, Caimi led the riders at the start of the second stage rally and finished at the fifth position. Caimi enjoys being in the top 5 overall rankings and is glad that he did not lose much time as compared to the leader, putting him in a good place for the rest of the rally.

Buhler maintained his position from the last stage of the rally at sixth place and tackled the terrains well with zero navigation errors and has claimed his spot in the overall top five. “I did not make any navigation mistakes and I tried to push a little today,” said Buhler.

Stage three of the Silk Way rally started in Russia and finished in Mongolia. The special stage is expected to test the riders’ skills with a steep ascent in the initial sections followed by fast sections along the flanks of the mountains.

Stage two rankings

Overall rankings after stage two