Stephane Peterhansel took a giant step towards victory in the 2016 Dakar Rally after winning Wednesday’s 10th stage as both Carlos Sainz and Nasser Al-Attiyah hit major trouble.Peterhansel started the day in second place in the standings, behind Sainz, but the Spaniard’s chances vanished when he stopped with mechanical problems near the end of the day.
At the time of writing, the Spaniard was still waiting for assistance.
Al-Attiyah, third at the start of the day, lost over 52 minutes after rolling his X-raid Mini.
The day included a 278-km special, with a mammoth connection of 485km from Belen to La Rioja. The start was slightly delayed because of the rising of a river.
Al-Attiyah’s day got off to a poor start when he rolled his Mini less than six km into the stage.
Although he eventually managed to continue, the Qatari lost over 28 minutes to Peterhansel at the first control point.
Peterhansel himself – and also Sainz and Mikko Hirvonen – lost time early on after getting lost in the dunes, although that did not stop the Frenchman from emerging as the quickest driver by nearly six minutes at CP1.
Peterhansel also set the pace at the second control point, increasing the gap to his closest pursuer – Cyril Despres – to nearly nine minutes.
Sainz, meanwhile, was 20 minutes slower than his French rival.
But it all came to a sudden end for the Spaniard, who stopped with a broken gearbox case 213km into the stage.
It is still unclear if the former WRC champion will continue in the event, but he was still waiting for assistance two hours after Peterhansel had finished.
Peterhansel reached the finish in 4h13m32s, beating Peugeot teammate Despres by 5m40s and Toyota’s Vladimir Vasilyev by 12m56s.
Mini’s Nani Roma finished the stage in fourth, ahead of Sebastien Loeb in the third fastest Peugeot today.
Today’s result leaves the 11-time Dakar winner a full hour clear of Al-Attiyah in the standings with three stages to run.
Giniel de Villiers is third, 1h12m adrift.
Štefan Svitko claims his first stage win; Price stays in control
Slovak Štefan Svitko took his maiden win at the Dakar at the end of an infernal stage. The 10th stage, packed with navigation and dunes, did little to change the top of the classification. Leader Toby Price (KTM) finished third today, limiting his losses to just 5′47″. He still enjoys a lead of 23′12″ on Svitko —enough to ride defensively until Rosario?
Štefan Svitko became part of the history of the Dakar by winning his first stage. The Slovakian rider, who is participating in the rally for the seventh time, earned bragging rights by claiming one of the toughest stages in the 2016 edition. He managed to put 2′54″ into Kevin Benavides (Honda) and 5′47″ into Toby Price (KTM), today’s rivals, in just over 4 hours of racing.
The gaps were quite small for such a fiendishly tricky stage. The three men kept a watchful eye on each other throughout the stage. Price seized the early initiative, but Svitko’s consistent pace, especially on the dunes, won the day. Benavides stuck to his “companions” and took a huge leap forward, gaining 4′49″ on fourth-placed Antoine Méo and 7′01″ on fifth-placed Pablo Quintanilla. Meanwhile, Paulo Gonçalves (Honda) worked to defend his third place overall by taking time on Chile’s Quintanilla (Husqvarna).
Toby Price (KTM) now holds a lead of 23′12″ over Štefan Svitko (KTM). The Aussie will have to focus on defending this comfortable margin in the last few stages if he wants to take the top step of the podium in Rosario. Gonçalves (Honda) kept his third place and increased his buffer over Quintanilla to 8′34″.