RIYADH (Saudi Arabia): France’s Stephane Peterhansel remained atop the overall standings while Qatar’s Nasser Al Attiyah claimed his third stage win of the Dakar Rally on Wednesday.
Al Attiyah completed the 337km special fourth stage, as the caravanserai travelled a total of 813km from Wadi Ad-Dawasir to Riyadh, in 2hr 35min 59sec, just 11sec ahead of Peterhansel, a 13-time champion nicknamed “Mr Dakar’.
It left the Toyota-driving Qatari 4:58 off Peterhansel in the overall standings.
“It wasn’t an easy stage. We lost a minute to an error, but we were hardly the only ones to make a mistake and we quickly got back on track,” said Al Attiyah, an Olympic shooting (skeet) bronze medallist at the 2012 London Games.
Peterhansel said the stage had been marked by “one relentless attack after another, and in the end we finished in the same time!”
“Apart from a small navigation error near the finish, I don’t think I can attack much more,” said the Frenchman, whose previous Dakar victories came both in a car (seven) and on a motorbike (six).
“To stay in contention, we need to go all out. So far, so good, as we aren’t making too many mistakes.”
Defending champion Carlos Sainz went some way in making up for a costly navigation error on Tuesday by surging through the field to eventually finish fifth, a result that took him into third in the general classification, 36:19 off his Mini teammate’s leading time.
