The fourth stage of the Dakar Rally led to chaos on Wednesday. Joan Barreda was initially the strongest on the bikes, but then lost the win to Nacho Cornejo because he helped another biker. After all, Barreda was declared the winner.
Barreda initially finished sixteen minutes ahead of Cornejo. The Spaniard thought he had won his 30th desert rally victory.
The jury then decided to reward Cornejo for helping another driver. The Chilean decided early on to assist the fallen Joaquim Rodrigues.
Cornejo made up for the lost time (25 minutes and 55 seconds) from the race direction, then won the stage. It later turned out that the organization had miscalculated and the loss of time was only 7 minutes and 35 seconds.
As a result, Barreda still won. With the win, he moved closer to record holders Stéphane Peterhansel and Cyril Despres. Both Dakar legends have won a motorcycle stage 33 times.
Daniel Sanders, Tuesday’s Australian stage winner, is still the points leader. Barreda is fourth, four minutes and thirty seconds off. He is exciting at the top: there are less than ten minutes between Sanders and number five Toby Price.
Loeb beats Peterhansel in cars
In the car, Sébastien Loeb won the stage. The Frenchman was thirteen seconds quicker than his compatriot Stéphane Peterhansel, while Spaniard Carlos Sainz finished third in under two minutes.
Qatari Nasser Al Attiyah finished fourth and remains leader in the standings. He is more than eight minutes ahead of Yazeed Al Rajhi from Saudi Arabia.
Fourteen-time Dakar winner Peterhansel is third in the standings. The 57-year-old Frenchman went in search of his 50th stage win on Wednesday but was overtaken by Loeb in the second part of the race. For the winner of the day it was the seventeenth stage victory of his career.
Mitchel van den Brink finished second in trucks. The Dutchman gave Czech Martin Macík nearly nine minutes. Czech Ales Loprais leads the standings, over 27 minutes ahead of Martin van den Brink.
The Dakar Rally will continue until next Sunday.
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03 jan 2023 om 13:15
Sanders grijpt alsnog dagzege in Dakar, derde rit geneutraliseerd vanwege weer
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02 jan 2023 om 14:50
Trucker Van Kasteren raakt etappezege in Dakar Rally kwijt door tijdstraf
