Dakar Rally 2021: Peterhansel controls the key stage and sentences the Dakar
Rally Dakar 2021 Sainz, third, lost two minutes
Bcontrol garlic. This is how the Dakar had Stphane Peterhansel from practically the first day (with the sole exception of the mishap in the marathon). And today too has known how to handle the key stage, in which he has given little time, just 1:56 on Nasser Al-Attiyah, unsuccessful winner of the day.
Not two minutes has Peterhansel left in which should be one of the longest and hardest stages but that in the end the panorama of the race has not changed so much. In fact, the French has practically sentenced her since maintains 15:05 on Al-Attiyah. Something that, except for catastrophe in the final 225 kilometers of tomorrow sentence the Dakar.
Why the race is now in the hands of Peterhansel alone … and fate, which today gave them a little scare at the end, when they have punctured when hitting a hidden rock in the dunes, which has also made them fear for further damage to the suspension. In the final section they have reduced the pace, but they have saved the situation well.
In this way, Mr. Dakar look for your tomorrow Fourteenth Touareg Trophy defending those 15:05 with which he has an advantage when tasting Toyota in the 225 final kilometers. “Let’s cross our fingers, it is the last day and we hope to finish it in first position”, commented the leader of the event after overcoming the penultimate obstacle.
Carlos Sainz had no option today to dispute even the stage triumph since his role was clear from the end of yesterday: roll as close to Peterhansel as possible to assist him in case you need it. So his stage had no history because, in addition, they loaded the car with additional spare parts in case of a failure.
Nor today was the usual ration of problems, this time with two punctures in a row at the end that left him without spare wheels and Mini’s roof air intake broken when striking a loose wire: “Everything has happened to us, but at least we are already at the end of the Dakar,” acknowledged the Madrilenian.
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