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.
The New Taipei Kings claimed the inaugural Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) championship on Sunday, defeating the Kaohsiung FamilyMart Aquas 108-89 in the final. Playing at home, the Kings pulled ahead with Jeremy Lin’s (林書豪) clutch three-pointers, securing their victory over the Aquas in the TPBL final. The Kings came out strong in the first quarter, dominating to build a 35-18 lead. By halftime, they had stretched their advantage to 61-38. In the third quarter, the Aquas narrowed the deficit to 12 points, but Lin stepped up, sinking several tough three- pointers to extend the lead. In the final quarter, the Kings pushed the
In an unlikely Ethiopian outpost of one the most French of pastimes, four men are leaning over their petanque balls, arguing over who is winning. Petanque, the bowling game also known as boules, is more readily associated with French village squares where locals launch metal balls at a jack while enjoying an afternoon drink, but for decades, it has also been a beloved pastime for members of a club near the iconic Meskel Square in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. It was founded in the early 20th century to cater to French railway workers, who built a line connecting Addis Ababa
Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Australian teenager Maya Joint on Tuesday eased into the Eastbourne Open quarter-finals in England as Hsieh prepares for the Wimbledon Championships next week. Four-time Wimbledon women’s doubles champion Hsieh and 19-year-old Joint fired two aces and converted five of eight break points to defeat Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Poland’s Katarzyna Piter 6-3, 6-3 in 58 minutes on the grass court. Hsieh and Joint are today to face fourth seeds Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, who advanced on Monday with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Quinn Gleason of the US and
BEAT THE HEAT: A brutal heat wave in the US has made cooling breaks standard. Dortmund’s coach said the weather could shape the destiny of the tournament Chelsea on Tuesday beat Esperance of Tunisia 3-0 to set up a FIFA Club World Cup last-16 tie against SL Benfica, who earlier defeated Bayern Munich 1-0, as furnace-link heat and the threat of thunder and lightning wreak havoc at the tournament. Elsewhere, minnows Auckland City claimed a memorable draw against Boca Juniors, while Los Angeles bowed out of the tournament with a stalemate against Flamengo. In Charlotte, Andreas Schjelderup scored the only goal for Benfica in their Group C clash with Bayern in front of 33,287 fans, finishing first-time from a cutback by his fellow Norwegian Fredrik Aursnes in the 13th
RSS