Al-Attiyah conquers the seventh stage of the Dakar Rally

The marathon stage promised more than it finally did. The situation has not changed and the Frenchman Peterhansel is still only slightly different from the Qatari sheikh and racer Al-Attiyah. Sainz is still far from the first place. And that is despite the fact that the Spaniard has finished second in this seventh stage.

The driver from Madrid has completed a good race in which Al-Attiyah won its fifth victory so far in the competition, as well as its 40th victory throughout its career. A victory which cuts the gap with the still leading Peterhansel, who finally occupied the third position.

Sainz was third in the starting position, opening the way behind Peterhansel and Yazeed al-Rjahi. The Spaniard reached the finish with the third fastest time, just 52 seconds behind Al-Attiyah, despite suffering a puncture, while the French driver was left with just over 3 minutes.

Nasser al-Attiyah started in fourth position and crossed the finish line with a time of 2 hours and 56 minutes to stay 4:50 from Peterhansel in the general classification. The Qatari was happy with the victory, and pointed out that the team was "happy to have finished the marathon in one piece because we had to push hard in some places to keep up with the buggies."

Now, Peterhansel has just under 5 minutes of lead over Al-Attiyah, while Carlos Sainz is closing the gap in third at 38:55. In fourth position, almost 1 hour and 40 minutes away and with no options except for the hecatomb, is the Polish driver Jakub Przygonski. The Spaniard Nani Roma is fifth at 2:30:29.

The news of the day on motorbikes was the abandonment of the Frenchman Xavier de Soultrait, who suffered a fall that forced him to be transferred in a state of consciousness to a hospital. The Frenchman's withdrawal from the stage has meant that Joan Barreda from Castellon is now in fifth place in the classification.

The lead has been taken by the Chilean Cornejo, after overtaking the Australian Toby Price in 1:05 minutes and the American Ricky Brabec in 2:50, while the British Sam Sunderland (KTM) was fifth. Barreda finished in fifth position as the best Spanish rider on this Dakar, despite losing 5:47 on the finish line to his teammate Cornejo. After the stage, he is now in fifth position in the general classification at 16:05 from the Chilean.

Cornejo has a slim 1:06 margin, in that general classification, over Price, in a very tight duel between Honda and KTM. Third is Sunderland, at 5:57, and the Argentine Kevin Benavides is fourth at 12:58, just ahead of Barreda.

The Spaniard Lorenzo Santolino, who is completing a great Dakar with hardly any mistakes, showed a great version of the stage. Far from the top, he is already ninth overall and has a good chance of finishing in the top 10 of the competition. The Catalan Laia Sanz shows her resistance to keep the 23rd place and get closer to the 20 best of the race.