CORDOBA (Argentina), Jan 15: France’s defending champion Stephane Peterhansel took a huge step towards his 11th Dakar Rally win on Monday as his main rival Nasser Al-Attiyah struggled during the ninth stage, the longest of the race.
Spaniard Nani Roma won the stage — his second of this year’s edition and 13th of his career — leading in a Mini 1-2 with 47-year-old Peterhansel — six times champion on a motorbike and four times in a car — second and Argentinian Orlando Terranova third in a BMW.
Al-Attiyah — the 2011 champion — had to stop several times during the stage in his Red Bull Buggy including just 4km from the finish line and saw his dreams of a second Dakar title dashed.
Peterhansel now has a comfortable lead of almost 50 minutes over his nearest rival South African Giniel de Villiers.
Earlier defending motorbike champion Cyril Despres stormed back into contention for this year’s title as the Frenchman won his first stage of this year’s renewal.
The 38-year-old KTM star started the day over 24 minutes off the pace but finished the stage in second place overall as he came in 4min 03sec ahead of Spanish rider Joan Barreda on a Husqvarna.
Despres put himself firmly into the mix for retaining the title as the four-time champion trails team-mate Portugal’s Ruben Faria by 5min 23sec.
While Despres entered the overall picture two of his compatriots fell away completely on the race’s longest stage, 852km from Tucuman including 593km of it timed.David Casteu — who led overnight going into the stage — hit a cow with his Yamaha during the timed section which resulted in him dislocating his shoulder and another stop on the stage saw him slip from pole position to not having a hope of winning the title.
His compatriot Olivier Pain also had a day to forget as he came off the bike on several occasions and lost about 32 minutes to also lose sight of overall victory.
Results (ninth stage from Tucuman to Cordoba, 852km with 593km timed):
Car:
Stage: 1. Nani Roma (ESP/Mini) 5hr 36min 28sec, 2. Stephane Peterhansel (FRA/Mini) at 4min 11sec, 3. Orlando Terranova (ARG/BMW) 6:54, 4. Robby Gordon (USA/Hummer) 8:37, 5. Giniel De Villiers (RSA/Toyota) 9:39, 6. Carlos Sousa (POR/Great Wall) 10:23, 7. Leonid Novitskiy (RUS/Mini) 11:20, 8. Geoff Olholm (AUS/Toyota) 20:23, 9. Matthias Kahle (GER/Sam-Mercedes) 26:44, 10. Lucio Alvarez (ARG/Toyota) 27:37. Overall: 1. Stephane Peterhansel (FRA/Mini) 24hr 11min 43sec, 2. Giniel De Villiers (RSA/Toyota) at 49min 31sec, 3. Leonid Novitskiy (RUS/Mini) 56:03, 4. Nani Roma (ESP/Mini) 1hr 34min 16sec, 5. Orlando Terranova (ARG/BMW) 2hr 01:08, 6. Carlos Sousa (POR/Great Wall) 2hr 13:41, 7. Ronan Chabot (FRA/SMG) 2hr 35:22, 8. Bernard Errandonea (AND/SMG) 2hr 35:40, 9. Pascal Thomasse (FRA/Buggy Md Rallye) 3hr 03:32, 10. Boris Garafulic (CHI/Mini) 3hr 23:30.
Motorcycling:
Stage: 1. Cyril Despres (FRA/KTM) 5hr 41min 36sec, 2. Joan Barreda Bort (ESP/Husqvarna) at 4min 03sec, 3. Alessandro Botturi (ITA/Husqvarna) 5:14, 4. Ruben Faria (POR/KTM) 7:47, 5. Helder Rodrigues (POR/Honda) 8:47, 6. Ivan Jakes (SVK/KTM) 9:37, 7. Paulo Goncalves (POR/Husqvarna) 11:14, 8. Juan Pedrero Garcia (ESP/KTM) 12:14, 9. Gerard Farres Guell (ESP/Honda) 14:12, 10. Lopez Contardo (CHI/KTM) 16:06. Overall: 1. Ruben Faria (POR/KTM) 25hr 57min 12sec, 2. Cyril Despres (FRA/KTM) at 5min 23sec, 3. Lopez Contardo (CHI/KTM) 9:03, 4. Ivan Jakes (SVK/KTM) 16:56, 5. Alessandro Botturi (ITA/Husqvarna) 22:58, 6. Olivier Pain (FRA/Yamaha) 28:46, 7. Helder Rodrigues (POR/Honda) 31:23, 8. Stefan Svitko (SVK/KTM) 32:50, 9. Jakub Przygonski (POL/KTM) 33:13, 10. Jeremias Israel Esquerre (CHI/Honda) 38:30.—AFP