The French Guerlain Chicherit (Prodrive), held back by five punctures yesterday, took his revenge today by winning the third stage of the Dakar, shortened due to heavy rain and interrupted for safety reasons.
The leader of the general classification at the start, the Spanish Carlos Sainz (Audi) is instead the great loser of the day: forced to stop at km 213 due to a problem with his left wheel, he was 56 minutes behind.
He is succeeded by the Qatari and reigning champion Nasser Al-Atthiyah, according to a still provisional ranking.
In the stage, South African Henk Lattegan took second place in his Toyota, 3 minutes and 26 seconds away, and Argentine Orlando Terranova third, 5 minutes and 4 seconds away, according to the provisional results.
The stage started from Alula to reach Ha'Il after 447 kilometers of special stages and 221 transfers.
The terrain included large stretches of sand and the riders had to face very serious difficulties, to which was added the weather which forced the organizers to stop the caravan at the 377th km.
In the motorcycle race Daniel Sanders confirms himself as one of the favorites for the title and wins the third stage of the Dakar, also taking the leadership of the general classification thanks to a significant showdown following a very specific strategic choice implemented in the last kilometers of yesterday's special stage.
This is the third partial success of his career in the most iconic rally raid in the world for the Australian from GasGas.