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De Villiers wins 10th Dakar stage

Giniel de Villiers took his first stage win of this year's Dakar Rally after setting the quickest time on the 10th day of the event

Meanwhile, leader Nasser Al-Attiyah extended his lead at the front of the overall standings after Volkswagen team-mate Carlos Sainz hit trouble.

De Villiers, the 2009 winner, caught Al-Attiyah unaware by selecting the cleverest route and ended the day in front, while the Qatari, who had been in front in the latter part of the stage, had to settle for fourth position.

Despite that, Al-Attiyah ended the day with a stronger lead after Sainz lost over 18 minutes to de Villiers, who won the stage from Krzysztof Holowczyc and Stephane Peterhansel in the BMWs.

Al-Attiyah was happy with his day despite losing time while in front on a stage that took drivers to Chile back to Argentina.

"We got lost for around seven to eight minutes," he said. "After that we caught up with Stephane Peterhansel, and we tried to find the right way. Then suddenly I saw Giniel de Villiers's car and I tried to follow him. From then I said we must stay calm, take it easy and try and find the way.

"It's okay, we're here now and I'm quite happy. I think it's a big day for us. I don't know where Carlos finished, but we're quite happy."

Al-Attiyah still leads from Sainz in the standings, the Spaniard now over 12 minutes adrift, with de Villiers in third over 46 minutes behind.

"That was an absolutely catastrophic day for us," said Sainz. "We got bogged down on a dune after only five kilometres. On top of this came a puncture later. We got lost several times, especially at the end of the stage when we didn't find the correct exit from a river bed.

"Furthermore we damaged the gearbox, which also slowed us down. So, all in all it could have been better. But also worse: The deficit in the overall standings is not unassailable. We'll give our utmost up until the final metre to try and win."

Stage ten results:

Pos Driver                   Car            Time/Gap
 1. Giniel de Villiers       Volkswagen      2h53m15s
 2. Krzysztof Holowczyc      BMW             +   04m23s
 3. Stephane Peterhansel     BMW             +   05m38s
 4. Nasser Al-Attiyah        Volkswagen      +   08m54s
 5. Carlos Sainz             Volkswagen      +   18m13s
 6. Ricardo Leal dos Santos  BMW             +   30m51s
 7. Christian Lavieille      Nissan          +   43m23s
 8. Mark Miller              Volkswagen      + 1h04m18s
 9. Ronan Chabot             SMG             + 1h24m18s
10. Guilherme Spinelli       Mitsubishi      + 1h33m27s

Overall standings:

Pos Driver                   Car            Time/Gap
 1. Nasser Al-Attiyah        Volkswagen      33h58m34s
 2. Carlos Sainz             Volkswagen       +  00h12m37s
 3. Giniel de Villiers       Volkswagen       +  00h46m57s
 4. Stephane Peterhansel     BMW              +  01h39m32s
 5. Mark Miller              Volkswagen       +  03h40m43s
 6. Krzysztof Holowczyc      BMW              +  03h49m37s
 7. Ricardo Leal dos Santos  BMW              +  05h48m25s
 8. Christian Lavieille      Nissan           +  06h27m23s
 9. Guilherme Spinelli       Mitsubishi       +  07h25m57s
10. Erik Van Loon            Mitsubishi       +  13h38m12s

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