Sainz moves to top of Dakar standings

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French favourites suffer bad day as Lopez and Miller triumph

ANTOFAGASTA, Chile: Chilean motorcyclist Francesco Lopez won the arduous 483 kilometre fifth stage from Copiapo of the Dakar Rally here on Wednesday.

TOUGH JOB: Italy’s Silvia Giannetti falls from her KTM during the 5th stage of the Dakar 2010 between Copiapo and Antofagasta, Chile. — AFP photo

TOUGH JOB: Italy’s Silvia Giannetti falls from her KTM during the 5th stage of the Dakar 2010 between Copiapo and Antofagasta, Chile. — AFP photo

American pilot Mark Miller won the car stage beating his Volkswagen teammate former world rally champion Carlos Sainz by 2minutes 10seconds.

However, Sainz moved to top of the standings after Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel encountered huge problems during the stage and was completely immobilised for 50 minutes.

Volkswagen swept the podium on the stage as Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah finished third and they also fill the top three positions in the overall standings with the Qatari in second and Miller third.

Miller said that Wednesday’s stage signalled a turning point.

“Dakar really began in earnest today (Wednesday),” said Miller.

“And we are in the best placings. Today we stopped the childrens games.

“There are still long days ahead of us in the sand dunes.

“There will be gaps opening up between the drivers and hopefully they will be in our favour.”

Sainz said that their cause had been hoped infinitely by Peterhansel’s woeful stage.

“Obviously the time lost by Stephane is an advantage for us,” said the Spaniard.

“My intention is to continue to drive at my own rhythm.”

Lopez beat overall leader Cyril Despres of France by 1minute 30seconds which also saw one of the favourites for the title David Casteu forced to retire after breaking his leg in a crash.

Casteu confessed that the crash was his fault as he pursued Lopez and blinded by a cloud of dust sprayed up by the Chilean’s bike he hit a rock head on at between 130 to 140 kilometres an hour.

“It is an error on my part. I got too close to Chaleco (the nickname of Lopez),” said Casteu.

“I flew through the air but I didn’t lost consciousness. I crawled to my motorbike to get to my radio. I was afraid that the artery in my leg had been severed.”

Lopez barely made a dent in the gap between him and Despres, who had a lead of 37 minutes over him going into the stage.

Despres also saw one of his other major rivals for the title have a dreadful day as Spaniard Marc Coma suffered mechanical problems and finished 40 minutes off Lopez and the two-time winner is over an hour behind the overall leader.

Despres, though, took no pleasure at the travails of two of his main opponents.

“I never rejoice at the woes of others,” he said.

“That has happened to me. We are at the start of the race. It has only been five days.

“I took care during the stage because there were a lot of sharp rocks.” — AFP