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Peterhansel's day as riders mourn
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-01-11 09:33
Paris, France (Reuters) -- Champion Stephane Peterhansel stretched his
overall lead in the race for cars to 40 minutes four seconds in the Dakar Rally
on Tuesday.
Organisers scrubbed the stage for bike riders after Australian Andy Caldecott
was killed in a crash on Monday.
Competitors held a minute's silence after the morning briefing in Kiffa,
Mauritania, in memory of the 41-year-old KTM rider.
While the bike riders treated the day as a non-competitive liaison, the 333km
10th stage to Kayes in Mali went ahead as normal for the car drivers.
Spaniard Carlos Sainz clocked the fastest time of the day. The Volkswagen
driver clinched his fourth stage win of the race when he beat compatriot Nani
Roma (Mitsubishi) by four minutes eight seconds.
Frenchman Peterhansel, driving a Mitsubishi, was in third place four minutes
58 seconds adrift.
He was followed by two Volkswagen drivers, Mark Miller of the United States
and Jutta Kleinschmidt of Germany.
Luc Alphand finished almost 36 minutes behind Sainz in 15th position after
hitting a tree and stopping for repairs. But the Frenchman stayed second
overall.
Spaniard Marc Coma leads the bike race ahead of KTM team mate and title
holder Cyril Despres of France.
Caldecott fell and suffered a fatal neck injury after 250km of the 599km
ninth stage.
He was an experienced desert rider. A four-times winner of the Australia
Safari, he was competing in his third Dakar and had won the third stage of this
year's race.
Wednesday's 11th stage will take competitors to Bamako through 705km of
forests and savannas.
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