Dakar Stage 6 cancelled due to poor weather

Stage six of the 2012 Dakar has been cancelled following heavy snow and rain in the Andes mountain range on the Argentinean – Chile boarder.

The competitors were due to cross the Paso de San Francisco pass, situated at 4700 m, but heavy snow meant that organisers were unable to send the advance vehicles across the boarder last night which compromised the safety of the competitors.

The entire Dakar entry have ridden in convoy today for a total of 641km in temperatures that dropped to as low as -8degrees. Stage seven of the event expected to get underway as planned tomorrow.

Cyril Despres currently leads the overall standings from factory KTM team-mate Marc Coma. Stan Watt holds 46th place. Brit Tobias Younger remains in the race but Jago Pickering was unfortunately forced to retire after spending a night on the stage on Thursday night.