Dakar: Peterhansel wins on sad day

41-year old Caldecott, winner of the third stage of this year's event, is the 23rd competitor to die in the Dakar Rally in 28 years. He was married with one child.

"At the 250km point of stage nine between Nouakchott and Kiffa, on a fast portion, the Australian biker suffered a bad crash and died," Dakar organisers said.

"Aware of the accident at 11:31am, the rally headquarters immediately sent a medical helicopter that landed at 11:55am at the scene of the accident. The doctors unfortunately could only note the death of the biker that, according to them, occurred immediately."

Spanish rider Isidre Steve, second overall until today, also crashed during today's stage and had to be flown to hospital. The KTM rider, however, is out of danger.

Today's stage, the last Mauritanian special, was the longest of the whole rally, with the competitors covering nearly 600 km over huge dune sections.

Peterhansel, who took the lead of the event in Saturday's stage, put his experience to good use to clinch his third stage win of the event, finishing over eight minutes in front of Mitsubishi teammate Luc Alphand.

The Frenchman consolidated himself in second place and trails Peterhansel by nine minutes and 16 seconds.

Third in today's stage was Giniel de Villiers in the first of the Volkswagen Touaregs, the South African occupying third position overall, but nearly an hour behind the leader.

Teammate Jutta Kleinschmidt finished fourth, ahead of Spaniard Nani Roma in the third Mitsubishi.

The Dakar will leave Mauritania tomorrow, travelling from Kiffa to Kayes in Mali with a 283 km special.

Stage 9 standings:

Pos  Driver                             Make            Time
 1.  Stephane Peterhansel (France)      Mitsubishi      6:52:45
 2.  Luc Alphand (France)               Mitsubishi      7:01:29
 3.  Giniel de Villiers (South Africa)  Volkswagen      7:20:45
 4.  Jutta Kleinschmidt (Germany)       Volkswagen      7:42:43
 5.  Nani Roma (Spain)                  Mitsubishi      7:45:24
 6.  Bruno Saby (France)                Volkswagen      7:51:03
 7.  Mark Miller (United States)        Volkswagen      7:59:44
 8.  Thierry Magnaldi (France)          Schlesser-Ford  8:07:47
 9.  Philippe Gache (France)            Buggy           8:10:38
10.  Carlos Sousa (Portugal)            Nissan          8:51:04

Overall Standings after stage 9:

Pos  Driver                             Make            Time
 1.  Stephane Peterhansel (France)      Mitsubishi      34:36:26
 2.  Luc Alphand (France)               Mitsubishi      34:45:42
 3.  Giniel de Villiers (South Africa)  Volkswagen      35:30:42
 4.  Nani Roma (Spain)                  Mitsubishi      36:12:40
 5.  Jutta Kleinschmidt (Germany)       Volkswagen      36:32:50
 6.  Thierry Magnaldi (France)          Schlesser-Ford  37:25:08
 7.  Mark Miller (United States)        Volkswagen      37:55:38
 8.  Jean-Louis Schlesser (France)      Schlesser-Ford  38:32:09
 9.  Carlos Sousa (Portugal)            Nissan          39:44:57
10.  Bruno Saby (France)                Volkswagen      42:51:01