This morning broke at Juy Juy in Argentina’s north with a torrential downpour and fierce winds. Bitter cold at ground level was a bad omen for the coming climb up the Andes.

Our Aussies climbed through 4,800metres of mountain pass, at sunrise, in freezing, slippery, and treacherous conditions.

Adding to the issues, no assistance vehicles could leave the bivouac for an hour after the first competitor, due to the mountain roads and required customs checks, meaning motorcyclists have no spare clothes waiting at the bivouac when they arrive in their sodden, muddy race suits.

Altitude can be murder, as I wrote last year, I succumbed on the first mountain pass. It is like having the worst hangover memorable. Altitude sickness takes your breath away, gives you pins and needles in your entire body, makes you nauseous, fatigued, unable to focus and dizzy. – and I was in a car. For Mark Davidson, aboard his Honda CRX450X, it was simply too much, and ultimately ended in a dangerous decision from organisers that led to the Aussie breaking two ribs.

“I wouldn’t say it’s been a bad day, I’d say it’s a ‘Dakar day’”, an exhausted Davidson explained. “When we left the bivouac this morning we had a 550km transport, which climbed to 4,800 metres, and as I came over the summit my head was just swimming, and like I was under general anesthetic, really dopey headed.

“I stopped, and got off the bike and knelt down for a second, but the next thing I know is all these people around me with those leaves and hot water and stuff [Mate – pronounced mah – teh is a traditional Argentine drink], so I must have passed out.

“I just went lights out, it was bloody scary.”

“I stayed there for about 45 minutes but I still didn’t come good, and then started vomiting so they got an ambulance with some oxygen, which got me to the border, where I took another hit of oxygen and all types of injections, because I just couldn’t stay awake,” Davidson explained, fatigue and pain evident on his face.

“I slowed down to 50km/hr because I couldn’t see or stay awake, and I was going to have a head on because I was so dizzy. Then I was fine once I got down, but then I was so late, it took me nine hours. I got to the control at 4:00 and my target time was 12.57."

Once at the control, Mark’s battle only begun again, “So old mate Pierre says ‘no-no, you no start, you’re too late’ and I said ‘No, I’m not too late, I’m not past the dead time,’ and he said ‘no you’re last motorcycle’.

“I had just asked him where that is written in the rule book when that old Bultaco rocked up [a 35 year old enduro bike racing this year’s Dakar], so I said ‘Ok i’m not last bike now am I?’ and he had to let me start.

“But he was pissed, because then he told me I had to start just five minutes in front of the bikes.”

It was this decision that ultimately led to Davidson’s two broken ribs. “I think I crashed on the fifth or sixth red bull coming past me,

“It was a horrible day, and this is only just the beginning, I don’t know how my ribs are going to cope, and I still feel groggy.

“Those trucks are so scary though, so scary. I reckon they caught me within 6k's and all I could do was get off the track and wait.”

Today was a difficult day too for Jacob Smith, who again holed his fuel tank, this time running out of fuel 20 kilometres from the end, and losing 40 minutes. Smith was pragmatic about it, if visibly disappointed, “It’s a bit of a bummer but I made it in. I’ve just got to keep getting the thing in here.”

Smith used his Camelback drinking pack to transfer fuel from another rider, asked if he’d buy a new one now the 22 year old joked “I don’t know, maybe leave the fumes in there, get me going a bit.”

Smith said today was one of the toughest, “You cross a big mountain range with headaches and dizziness and that, you ride flat out for 180k's then run out of fuel, and you get back here and it’s a dusty, shitty bivouac with no trucks here yet or anything and no clothes. It’s a rough day,” he said.

Simon Pavey had no more issues with his sub frame today, but again suffered fuel breather issues, ultimately blowing down the breather hose to limp the bike home the final five kilometres. Using typical Australian ingenuity though, as we spoke Pavey was rigging up a fix.

“This is a hell-bodge job this one,” he chuckled. “We’ve got the original fuel pump out of the centre of the tank, spliced it, diced it and stripped it, and now we’re splicing it into this fuel line and I can turn it on up here on my dash, so that when it doesn’t suck, I can refill the main tank with this button.

“I spent all day riding along thinking about what to do about this problem!”

Warren Strange, Geoff Olholm and Bruce Garland all reported positive days today, with Warren admitting he took advantage of many-a roadside fire to keep warm on the liaison, and Olholm noting that the Coconut team now know how to reset the turbo boost when it trips into limp mode. Saving them driving without turbo boost on stages.

Tomorrow’s stage hits the dunes for the first time in the rally, with vehicles racing from Colama, through to Iquique on the coast, including the famous stage finish, 2 kilometers flat out down the side of an enormous beach side sand dune.