Sébastien Loeb took his third stage victory in the Dakar rally after 686km between Ryad and Harad full of twists and turns, including the accident involving Carlos Sainz.
The Lithuanian Vaidotas Zala finished second of the day (at 3'7") and the French Guerlain Chicherit third (at 4'18"), for an all-Prodrive podium.
Probably with no chance of final victory due to the delay (1h40') on the leader Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota), Loeb has fulfilled part of his goal: conquer a stage victory to collect points for the world championship and return to the podium .
The twist of the day is Sainz's accident, for which there was talk of abandonment.
The three-time winner of the event overturned his Audi RS Q e-tron after jumping on a dune, just a few kilometers from the start of stage nine.
At first the news spread of the withdrawal of the Spaniard, suffering from chest and back pain.
But, already on the helicopter that was to take him to the hospital in Riyadh for checks, Sainz asked to be taken back to the car, where the navigator Lucas Cruz was waiting for him, and where he was joined by the rescue team of his team for the repairs necessary to attempt to continue.