Sainz’s coup of authority in the Dakar: leader and with the great favorite KO

2024-01-12 10:18:19
The good performance has allowed Carlos Sainz to position himself as the outstanding leader of the Dakar after the 48-hour stage, which was won by Sebastien Loeb, a French BRX Prodrive driver, who was two minutes ahead of the Madrid native in the stage. However, the marathon has practically sentenced the rally when it reaches its halfway point and just before the rest stage. Carlos Sainz has everything in his favor to win his fourth ‘Tuareg’. “It was a difficult special and we survived,” commented the driver after his performance on the dunes of the Rub al-Jali desert. “We are leaders on the day of rest, which is a good balance of the first week and we have to continue moving forward as we started,” said Sainz, ensuring that they will go “day by day with humility” and will try to “continue spending days without big mistakes and we will see.” “What’s going on?”, facing this second week of the rally. The biggest casualty of the day was the one who until now was considered the great favorite, the Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah, who saw at kilometer 529 how a mechanical problem in the suspension of its front wheel left the Prodrive Hunter stranded in the sand for more than two hours, arriving at the finish line 2 hours and 45 minutes late, saying goodbye to its goal of winning the race for the third consecutive time and leaving it on the brink of abandonment . The current winner of the last two editions is now seventeenth overall, 2 hours and 40 minutes behind the leader. Without a doubt, the Qatari has paid dearly for his decision to go bare-chested for the fifth stage. A victory has never been so expensive, since that has cost the rally. Al-Attiyah had to open the track this past Thursday without being able to follow the tracks of the motorcycles, which were taking a different route and he lost a good minute, a disaster that was confirmed today. Al-Attiyah’s goal now is to try to finish in the top ten and win stages to add to his list of achievements. Another of those affected by the demanding stage was the Frenchman Stéphane Peterhansel who, due to a problem with the power steering, was stopped for almost two hours, saying goodbye to his chances of winning in the general classification. The stage was won by Sébastien Loeb, with 2.01 minutes over Carlos Sainz and 10.55 over Mattias Ekström, the Madrid teammate at Audi. These three drivers also share the provisional podium of the test, led by Sainz, with Ekström second at 20.21 minutes and Loeb third at 29.31. Classification stage 1. Sebastien Loeb/Fabian Lurquin (BRX) – 7h 21:56 2. Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (Audi) at 2:01 3. Mattias Ekström/Emil Bergkvist (Audi) at 7:55 4. Lucas Moraes/ Armand Monleón (Toyota) at 22:45 5. Eryk Goczal/Oriol Mena/ (Toyota) at 28:48 General classification 1. Carlos Sainz: 24h59:32 2 Mattias Ekström/Emil Bergkvist (Audi) – 20:21 3. Sébastien Loeb/Fabian Lurquin (BRX) at 29:31 4. Guillaume De Mevius/Xavier Panseri (Toyota) at 1h 02:47 5. Lucas Moraes/Armand Monleón (Toyota) at 1h 04:00 Related News standard No The Spanish driver injured in the Dakar Carles Falcón is still in a coma and will be transferred to Spain in the coming days A. Standard head No Dakar Rally: route, stages and where to watch online and on television Jordi Martínez On motorcycles we must highlight the abandonment of Joan Barreda after suffering a breakdown a few kilometers from the finish line. With the initial goal of finishing in the top five and even getting on the podium, the Catalan suffered two falls, the second in stage 5, before facing the tough and physical marathon in the dunes of the ‘Empty Quarter’. Very weakened, he tried, but the bike couldn’t do any more. Ricky Brabec is the new leader of the general classification in motorcycles, but with Ross Branch close behind and with two more Honda riders with a good chance of taking the title: Nacho Cornejo and Adrien Van Beveren, who took the victory of the sixth stage by overcoming in 4:13 to Price, in 5 minutes to Brabec and in 6:55 to Sanders.
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