Dakar 2020: Sainz's lag tightens the Dakar even more

The navigation error, combined with the attacks of Peterhansel and Al-Attiyah, leaves his advantage in the general reduced to 24 seconds.

The ninth day of the Dakar, with 410 km timed between Wadi Ad-Dawasir and Hadath, pressed the pulse even more for the final victory. Carlos Sainz (Mini) gave 6:31 to the winner of the stage, Stephane Peterhansel (Mini) and 6:16 with Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota), so that his lead in front of the general is reduced to only 24 seconds .

A navigation error exceeded the first third of the route lastrated the Madrid, since then in tow of his rivals, who squeezed their cars in the last section, with wider tracks. “We went out with the knife between our teeth. We tried to keep the pace from beginning to end,” Peterhansel said.

“The goal was to cut time against Carlos, so I am quite happy with our work,” admitted Al-Attiyah, current champion, who now has the option on Wednesday, the end of the first marathon day, and Thursday, with greater protagonism of the dunes, to confirm their assault on the leadership.

Alonso, in the top-10

Fernando Alonso (Toyota) finished in ninth position, with 13 minutes more than Peterhansel. In this way, the world champion of Formula 1 ascends to the tenth place of the general, 42 minutes from Yasir Seaidan (Mini).

On motorcycles, Pablo Quintanilla (Husqvarna) signed his first partial victory of the current edition, with almost two minutes of margin over Toby Price (KTM), which retains its comfortable advantage at the head of the general. The suspension of the eve, caused by the death of Paulo Gonçalves, gave way to a “bitter day”, as defined by the Chilean.

“At the beginning it was a bit difficult to get a rhythm, but from then on I felt comfortable and started pushing. Obviously the stage is in honor of Paulo,” Quintanilla analyzed. Joan Barreda (Honda), third in the goal, could not give himself a joy in a career that gives him very few satisfactions.