JEDDAH: Nasser Al-Attiyah won the third consecutive stage of the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia and stayed five minutes behind fullback Stephane Peterhansel on Wednesday.
Al-Attiyah opened the 337-kilometer (209-mile) special between Wadi Ad-Dawasir and Riyadh and directed for almost everything, an outdoor Toyota team player and new Dakar player Henk Lategan and champion seven-time Peterhansel.
Lategan led the fourth shortly after the halfway point, while Peterhansel started the final 40 kilometers more than a minute behind but took home power to finish second with just 11 seconds.
“We don’t make too many mistakes,” Peterhansel said. “In the old days, 50% of contenders would be knocked down by driving errors or technical issues, but it is becoming much more common, so you have to hold on. ”
Sebastien Loeb also had a good finish to give up fourth place, while champion Carlos Sainz did not, falling from second to fifth after starting on the 17th.
Peterhansel remained the overall leader and Al-Attiyah was in second place. No one else was within 30 minutes of them. Sainz was third, Loeb fourth, and Lategan fifth. Mathieu Serradori, who started the day in third overall overall, suffered an early sailing error, missed more than 20 minutes, and slipped to seventh.
In the motorcycle class, Portugal’s Joan Barreda won the stage from the start of the 30th, and was second to Xavier de Soultrait, the fifth different leader in five days. Only 5 1/2 minutes separates the top six riders.
Barreda took control of the stage – he also won stage two – followed by Ross Branch of Botswana. Newcomer Daniel Sanders was in third place.
Toby Price, who has also won two stages, was on an unplanned early trip and missed five minutes. Defensive champion Ricky Brabec was nearly 13 minutes from distance, and Pablo Quintanilla, who finished second last year, was 7 1/2 minutes off.
De Soultrait, who was seventh in 2019, was completely led by just 15 seconds from Barreda. Branch, Argentine brothers Kevin and Luciano Benavides and former director Skyler Howes were all within seven seconds of each other.
“It’s difficult to open up big gaps in levels like this,” de Soultrait said. “We have to attack as a lunatic, but we are already moving very fast. I again reached 175 kph. I could go faster, but I don’t feel that way. You also need to follow the roadmap. ”