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
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
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
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
RSS