BELEN: Defending 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.

The 52-year-old Frenchman — the record 13-time race winner across car and motorbike categories — needed 4 hours, 43 minutes, 46 seconds to cover the 373 kilometres between Salta and Belen.

Toyota driver Giniel de Villiers of South Africa was 8:46 behind in second place, with Sainz taking third, 13:07 behind his French team-mate.

While his third stage win of the event moved him to second place, Peterhansel was still 50 minutes behind Sainz with four days remaining before the finish in Cordoba.

Spaniard Sainz, himself the Dakar winner in 2010, rode a conservative stage as he started with a lead of almost an hour over 2015 champion Nasser Al-Attiyah.

The Qatari Toyota driver faced mechanical problems and lost significant time, dropping to third overall at 1hr 12min 46sec.

“It was a really long day again and we tried to push. We did not make any mistakes, but we are a little bit tired this evening,” said Peterhansel.

“Today it was a really important stage...not easy, and I think tomorrow in Fiambala it will be the same.”

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.

The day’s bigger drama came in the motorcycle category, with Yamaha rider Adrien van Beveren of France, who had been leading the race, forced to abandon after an accident.

His Yamaha team said on its Twitter feed that Van Beveren “attempted to complete the stage but was unable to continue and was airlifted for medical check” after feeling “groggy”.

He was evacuated by helicopter after a high-speed fall three kilometres from the finish. Organisers said he had broken his right collarbone and injured his thorax and spine.

He was replaced at the top of the standings by Austria’s KTM rider Matthias Walkner.

Walkner won the stage and was followed by two Honda riders, Spaniard Joan Barreda Bort and Argentine Kevin Benavides.

Overall, the Austrian leads Barreda Bort by 39:42 and Benavides by 41:23.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2018