Botswana driver Ross Branch took his second victory in the Dakar rally, at the end of the 624km tenth stage between Harad and Shaybah in Saudi Arabia.
The French Adrien Van Beveren and his Honda crossed the finish line second, 21" behind. The South African Michael Docherty (Husqvarna) was third, 30" behind.
Fourth one minute behind Branch, the Argentine Kevin Benavides (KTM) took the lead in the provisional general classification ahead of the American Skyler Howes (Husqvarna) at 1'29". The Australian Toby Price (KTM) is third.
Sébastien Loeb (Prodrive) took his fourth stage victory in the current edition of the Dakar rally.
In the car category, the Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota), fourth today at 5'45", remains the leader of the general classification. At the end of the 10th stage, Loeb preceded the Swede Mattias Ekstrom (Audi) by 3'04" .
The Brazilian Lucas Moraes, 25, with his Toyota finished third at 5'22". In the provisional general classification, the Al-Attiyah/Mathieu Baumel duo remains uncatchable, with a 1h21' lead over teammates Moraes and his co-driver, the German Tomi Gottschalk.Third at 1h37', Loeb is far from having secured the position on the podium, with less than 12 minutes ahead of the South African Henk Lategan (Toyota).The other South African Giniel de Villiers (Toyota) ,
winner of the Dakar in 2009, he is more than 43 minutes behind the Frenchman.
Tomorrow and the day after the Dakar, which started on December 31 from the shores of the Red Sea, enters the desert of dunes of the Empty Quarter, two days called "marathon" because the competitors will not have assistance at the bivouac on Thursday evening.