Spaniards Carlos Sainz and Marc Coma won the fourth stage of the Dakar Rally in their respective car and motorbike classes and retained the overall leads on Tuesday.
Sainz’s second stage win of this rally was only by six seconds over Nasser al-Attiyah of Qatar, who won the first and third stages.
Sainz passed al-Attiyah but stopped when he lost pressure in a tire.
PHOTO: AFP
Realizing it was a slow puncture, he still managed to win the stage across Patagonia from Ingeniero Jacobacci to Neuquen.
“It’s a shame [about the tire], because I could have done better,” Sainz said.
He finished the 380km special in three hours, 42 minutes, 57 minutes in his Volkswagen. The leg was originally scheduled to be 459km, but organizers said it had to be shortened for administrative reasons.
A former two-time world champion, Sainz led al-Attiyah in his BMW by 3:46. Third overall was Giniel de Villiers of South Africa, 11:33 back. Defending champion Stephane Peterhansel of France was fourth, more than 15 minutes off the pace.
Argentine dust has been a feature of the course so far. A persistent drought has turned massive amounts of Argentina’s soil to dust, forcing drivers to navigate through clouds of brown dirt. Vehicles often disappeared behind dust, spraying thousands of fans who have gathered to watch along the route, now passing through isolated towns and villages in southern Argentina.
Coma won the motorbike stage in 4:09:32. Cyril Despres of France was 1:17 back in second place, followed by Jonah Street of the US, 0:04 seconds behind.
With his third stage win, Coma was 42:57 ahead of Street overall.
“Today, it was shorter but harder than the other days. It was a bit like Morocco,” Coma said.
Meanwhile, English truck driver Paul Green remained in serious condition in a local hospital after flipping his truck on Saturday.
Yesterday’s route, the fifth of 14 stages, was to be a 506km drive from Neuquen to San Rafael. The rally will finish next Sunday back in Buenos Aires.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their