Al-Attiyah takes the third stage of the Dakar Rally after the Sainz puncture
A navigational error by the Madrid native, who lost his way in the middle of the special stage and while in the lead, forced him to settle for limiting damage on a stage where he had great aspirations. His rivals, the Qatari Al-Attiyah and the Frenchman Peterhansel, did not miss the opportunity to deliver a hard blow to the reigning champion, who also suffered a puncture.
The three-time Dakar winner, Al-Attiyah, accelerated through a 403-kilometre circuit around Wadi ad-Dawasir, the gateway to the Rub al-Khali desert, an enormous area of sand that covers much of the southern part of the Arabian peninsula, achieving a time of 3h 17min 39s to reach victory.
The Qatari sheikh and driver scored his third win, 2:27 ahead of South Africa's Henk Lategan's other Toyota, and 4:05 ahead of France's Stephane Peterhansel, who still holds the lead in the overall standings. The 13 times winner of the Dakar consolidated his advantage in the general classification with a third place out of step and despite suffering a puncture at the beginning. Carlos Sainz, for his part, crossed the finish line at 31:02 from Al-Attiyah after getting lost in the desert.
Al-Attiyah has won its second consecutive stage and is now on Peterhansel's ankles in the general classification. Sainz has dropped to fourth place in the standings and is forced to go on the attack from today to close the gap on his two great rivals. It hasn't been an easy day for Nani Roma either, despite being ahead of Sainz. The Spaniard has suffered a loss that has distanced him up to 26 minutes, and is far enough away from Peterhansel in the general to change his goal. He will be climbing positions little by little from this stage onwards, as he has little chance of winning.
Nor was it the day of the Spanish on motorbikes. The driver from Castellón, Joan Barreda, has gone through a series of complications in the Saudi desert. After taking the second stage, which placed him as the leader of the general classification, Barreda accused him of opening up the track and arrived 24 minutes and 49 seconds behind the winner of the race, Toby Price.
The rest of the Spanish drivers are still on their feet. Lorenzo Santolino and Oriol Mena maintained their good positions in the general classification, placing themselves in the top fifteen or twenty places. Laia Sanz, for her part, has completed her best stage of the race, occupying 26th place and leaving herself only 20 minutes behind.
Now the leader of the category is Skyler Howes. The American was not one of the favourites, however, the consistency he is showing during the first stages is giving him a chance. Howes has received more credit to the detriment of Barreda or Price, drivers who have shown more talent, but also more tendency to make mistakes.
The equality is maximum in a category in which Skyler Howes leads the classification with only 33 seconds of difference with Benavides and 1:28 above the French Xavier de Soultrait. Barreda is now eighth, at 9:02 from the American. The Spanish driver maintains his options.
