After dropping valuable time on Monday's SS8, Cyril Despres profited from today's run from Antofagasta to Iquique to recover the lead. Marc Coma has dropped back to second place, 2m28s behind the Frenchman.

Since 2010, the end of the stage which finishes in Iquique has been THE place to be. Spectators benefit from a breath-taking view of the competitors as they appear over the crest of a towering dune before a giddy, flat-out two-kilometre downhill blast to the Pacific Ocean. It's a memorable sight, not only for the competitors, but also for the crowd waiting near the bivouac and for television viewers across the world.

Cyril Despres was sixth on the road as he started today's competitive section, but he spent the entire day in the lead on his KTM/MICHELINand was 3m30s quicker than his rival Marc Coma over the first part of the stage.

It was around 2pm local time when the gaze of all the spectators and rally followers at the finish control, alongside tonight's bivouac near Iquique, turned to the top of towering mountain of sand where a number of spectators' vehicles were barely visible on the horizon. We all watched in anticipation as the N°1 KTM tipped over the edge of the crest before leaving a trail of dust as it sped down the steep, final slope at something like 120kph. His thighs gripped his machine's fuel tank and his fingers were wrapped tightly around the handlebars at full throttle, but Marc Coma was aware that he was no longer in the lead…

Indeed, the fastest time on SS9 went to Cyril Despres who beat his Spanish team-mate by 3m54s to regain the provisional lead. Another Spaniard, Joan Barreda (Husqvarna/MICHELIN), delivered another top performance to claim the day's third-fastest time, ahead of Rodrigues and Paulo Goncalves who are currently third and fourth overall.

Leg 9 - positions:

Provisional overall positions:

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