<p class="title">Spaniard Oriol Mena finished a creditable 14th while his team-mate C S Santosh of India was placed 20th after stage 1 as Hero MotoSports made a steady start to the 41st edition of the gruelling Dakar Rally here.</p>.<p class="bodytext">After a long liaison of 247 kms, the short first special stage of 84 kms was kicked off in reverse order from Lima to Pisco on Monday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Ace Indian rider Santosh was the first to hit the sand dunes and made a strong finish on his fifth Dakar outing, finishing the first stage just 9 minutes 13 seconds behind leader Joan BarredaBort of Honda Factory Racing (57 minutes and 36 seconds).</p>.<p class="bodytext">The comeback man for the team -- Portuguese Joaquim Rodrigues -- was the second to tackle the stage and finished the stage safely, crossing the line at 23rd position, 10 minutes and 14 seconds behind the leader.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Last year’s ‘Rookie of the Year’, Mena was the last to hit the track and despite facing a little touchdown trying to avoid a tricky hole in the first dune, he finished the stage in the 14th spot.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Dakar, considered as world’s toughest off-road rally, moved to San Juan De Marcona on Tuesday for the first full stage of 552km, including the liaisons, to be done in the heat and dunes.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Talking about the first stage, Santosh expressed happiness about bringing in his bike unscratched.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"First day out of the books. I had butterflies in the beginning but it's always like this with the first stage of the Dakar. After the riverbed, there was a lot of dust but I got into my own rhythm. I am very happy to bring the bike home in the first stage and hopefully this will continue in the next stages as well," Santosh said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Mena too was satisfied with his outing on the first stage.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Good day overall except for a small incident where I overlooked a small hole on the other side of the first dune and had a touchdown. Well that’s how this Dakar has started for me, but I am safely back at the bivouac and that’s what matters. Tomorrow will be another day," he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Rodrigues said he concentrated on an incident free outing on Monday after his accident at the same stage in the last edition of the Dakar.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"It was an emotional stage for me. Honestly, I was a little bit nervous starting today as this was the same stage where I had crashed last year. So I rode really tight, maybe even breaking too much at times to be on the safer side," the Portuguese rider said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The other Indian interest in the Dakar Rally, Prabhakar Arvind of TVS Racing finished the first stage in a disappointing 70th spot.</p>
<p class="title">Spaniard Oriol Mena finished a creditable 14th while his team-mate C S Santosh of India was placed 20th after stage 1 as Hero MotoSports made a steady start to the 41st edition of the gruelling Dakar Rally here.</p>.<p class="bodytext">After a long liaison of 247 kms, the short first special stage of 84 kms was kicked off in reverse order from Lima to Pisco on Monday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Ace Indian rider Santosh was the first to hit the sand dunes and made a strong finish on his fifth Dakar outing, finishing the first stage just 9 minutes 13 seconds behind leader Joan BarredaBort of Honda Factory Racing (57 minutes and 36 seconds).</p>.<p class="bodytext">The comeback man for the team -- Portuguese Joaquim Rodrigues -- was the second to tackle the stage and finished the stage safely, crossing the line at 23rd position, 10 minutes and 14 seconds behind the leader.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Last year’s ‘Rookie of the Year’, Mena was the last to hit the track and despite facing a little touchdown trying to avoid a tricky hole in the first dune, he finished the stage in the 14th spot.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Dakar, considered as world’s toughest off-road rally, moved to San Juan De Marcona on Tuesday for the first full stage of 552km, including the liaisons, to be done in the heat and dunes.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Talking about the first stage, Santosh expressed happiness about bringing in his bike unscratched.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"First day out of the books. I had butterflies in the beginning but it's always like this with the first stage of the Dakar. After the riverbed, there was a lot of dust but I got into my own rhythm. I am very happy to bring the bike home in the first stage and hopefully this will continue in the next stages as well," Santosh said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Mena too was satisfied with his outing on the first stage.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Good day overall except for a small incident where I overlooked a small hole on the other side of the first dune and had a touchdown. Well that’s how this Dakar has started for me, but I am safely back at the bivouac and that’s what matters. Tomorrow will be another day," he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Rodrigues said he concentrated on an incident free outing on Monday after his accident at the same stage in the last edition of the Dakar.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"It was an emotional stage for me. Honestly, I was a little bit nervous starting today as this was the same stage where I had crashed last year. So I rode really tight, maybe even breaking too much at times to be on the safer side," the Portuguese rider said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The other Indian interest in the Dakar Rally, Prabhakar Arvind of TVS Racing finished the first stage in a disappointing 70th spot.</p>