Reigning champion Stephane Peterhansel won the 10th stage of the Dakar Rally in Argentina on Tuesday to take more precious minutes out of Peugeot team mate Carlos Sainz’s hefty overall lead.
While the Frenchman’s third stage win of the event moved him to second place, the 13 times Dakar winner was still 50 minutes behind Sainz with four days remaining before the finish in Cordoba.
Qatar’s two times Dakar winner Nasser al-Attiyah slipped to third overall in his Toyota, an hour and 12 minutes behind Sainz.
Sainz was still smarting from a 10 minute penalty applied on Monday for an alleged collision with Dutch quadbike rider Kees Koolen. Peugeot have said they intend to appeal the sanction.
Van Beveren crash
The day’s bigger drama came in the motorcycle category, with Frenchman Adrien van Beveren crashing out and handing the overall lead to Austrian Matthias Walkner.
The Yamaha rider was evacuated by helicopter after a high-speed fall three kilometres from the finish of the 373km special stage between Salta and Belen. Organisers said he had broken his right collarbone and injured his thorax and spine.
Walkner won the stage and took over at the top, leading Spaniard Joan Barreda by 39 minutes.
{{/usCountry}}Walkner won the stage and took over at the top, leading Spaniard Joan Barreda by 39 minutes.
{{/usCountry}}Hero’s Mena in top 15
Oriol Mena of Hero MotoSports Team Rally attacked from the very beginning of the 10th stage, consistently maintaining his top 15 position through the day. He finished the stage in 4th position, his best Dakar stage yet, and climbed to 14th position overall.
Mena’s teammate CS Santosh started the stage quite well but had a bad crash in the second half that knocked him out for some time. With the help of a quick intervention from the team, Santosh managed to finish the difficult stage in 44th position, and is ranked 40th overall among motorbikes.
Wednesday’s 11th stage will be run from Belen to Fiambala and Chilecito.