Dakar: 'Peter' edges Alphand
With just six days left to go in this year's Dakar Rally and some of the top stars either out or fighting back from disaster, the battle for the lead has whittled down to the two Mitsubishi drivers Stephane Peterhansel and Luc Alphand
Peterhansel responded to former alpine skier Alphand's Saturday stage win by taking today's (Monday's) 483km run across the Atar region of the Mauritanian desert. Despite the length of the special, the team-mates finished less than two minutes apart having swapped the stage lead several time during the day.
Jutta Klienschmidt still holds third in the only VW Touareg left with a reasonable shot at the win following Bruno Saby's problems over the weekend, although she re while Giniel de Villiers is the leading Nissan driver in fourth.
US all-rounder Robbie Gordon continues to impress despite earlier problems and has now worked his way back up to fifth overall in his VW ahead of Josep Maria Servia in the leading Schlesser-Ford buggy.
Two of the day's key casualties were Gregoire de Mevius who escaped with shock from a massive accident and Mitsubishi's Hiroshi Masuoka who suffered a broken engine early in the stage.
Peterhansel/Cottret (Mitsubishi V60), 28h08m55s
Alphand/Picard (Mitsubishi Pajero Evo), 28h30m23s
Kleinschmidt/Pons (VW Touareg), 29h19m40s
de Villiers/Lurquin (Nissan Pickup), 32h01m51s
Gordon/von Zitzewitz (VW Touareg), 40h51m00s
Servia/Debron (Schlesser Ford), 49h01m54s
Kolberg/Roldan (Mitsubishi Pajero Evo), 49h04m08s
Housieaux/Fagot (Mitsubishi Pajero Evo), 58h27m55s
Vatanen/Siviero (Nissan Pickup), 63h15m46s
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