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Easy to be wise after the event, but even after his brief off on Friday, I didn't think Ogier was out of it.
Mikkelsen could and really should have sewn it up - but a costly spin yesterday gave both Neuville & Ogier a sniff.
So going into the final stage only 3 & 4.6 sec ahead of Ogier & Neuville was always going to be tricky. And after throwing a few IRC wins away when under pressure I wasn't confident he'd do it.
Helluva performance from Ogier - but sadly for Mikkelsen, he made a mistake - and lost his first win.
However, he can take comfort from the fact that even Ogier did the same; led in Rally NZ in 2010, spun 2 corners from the end, and lost to Latvala. Came out and won the next event in Portugal, under pressure from Loeb.
The next round in Mexico sees the first dry, dusty gravel event; those later runners have a great opportunity to get a win.
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