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Peterhansel wins Dakar's eighth stage, Sainz leads overall

Third place on the stage was enough for Qatari Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah to cut the gap between himself and Sainz by nearly six minutes but the deficit still stands at 1h06m37s.

Carlos Sainz

Bengaluru, January 15: Reigning champion Stephane Peterhansel fought back to win the eighth stage of the Dakar Rally in Bolivia, but Peugeot team-mate Carlos Sainz remained more than an hour clear of the field.

"Every day we make it to the finish is a good day. Everything is going fine, we've to stay focused," said Sainz.

<strong>Sainz in command</strong>Sainz in command

Third place on the stage was enough for Qatari Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah to cut the gap between himself and Sainz by nearly six minutes but the deficit still stands at 1h, 06m, 37s.

The Qatari's Toyota Gazoo Racing SA team-mate Giniel De Villiers of South Africa slipped to fifth overall on stage eight.

In the longest special stage of the race and having to contend with high altitude and rain after a stopover without mechanical assistance, the 13-time champion known as 'Mr Dakar' secured the 40th stage win of his career.

It was also his second stage win of the current rally but, having seen his overall lead slip drastically, the Frenchman knew it was unlikely to make much of a difference.

"At least we didn't run into trouble, which is good," he said of the 498-km special stage from the salt flats of Uyuni to Tupiza.

"I'm not back in the game, because we're talking hours of time difference and I just got a few minutes back," added Peterhansel.

Due to a deluge of rainfall in the Tupiza area it has been decided by race organisers to call off Monday's (Janaury 15) scheduled stage. Instead the route to Salta, Argentina, will be driven as a liaison stage before racing restarts on Tuesday (January 16) with 373km of timed special through the dunes of Belen.

"Gaining two minutes on Nasser (Al Attiyah) won't bring us back into the game. It's a pity that tomorrow's stage has been cancelled because we needed every opportunity we could get our hands on to claw back time."

Sainz was fifth on the stage, seven minutes and four seconds slower than Peterhansel, but remained an hour and six minutes clear of Qatari challenger Al Attiyah in a Toyota.

Peterhansel was an hour and 13 minutes off the lead.

"We'll try to do our best in the next six days," said Al Attiyah, a two-time Dakar winner.

"If Carlos (Sainz) makes a mistake, we can catch him. But one hour... it's going to be difficult, the Red Bull athlete added.

The 40th edition of Dakar which has already claimed high-profile retirements including that of Sebastien Loeb and Andre Villas-Boas ends in Cordoba, Argentina, on January 20.

(With Agency/Red Bull Media inputs)

Story first published: Monday, January 15, 2018, 11:17 [IST]
Other articles published on Jan 15, 2018