Dakar Stage 6: Loeb loses lead to Peterhansel

Stephane Peterhansel

The rivalry has been revived within the Peugeot team. After another demonstration by Sebastien Loeb yesterday, today triumph was in the hands of Stephane Peterhansel. Taking advantage of the problems that befell Sebastien Loeb (a puncture and faulty electronics), the record holder for victories on the Dakar won the special and took hold of the lead in the general standings. With a finish 8'15 behind his countryman, Loeb lost the leadership of the car category by 27 seconds. In the bike race, Toby Price (KTM) was victorious, for the third time since the start. In the general standings, whilst the Portuguese rider retains command of the rally, Price has come back to within 35 seconds. The day also witnessed a considerable amount of withdrawals.

Although he had acknowledged that the domination of Sebastien Loeb was not out of place in light of the profile of the specials since the rally's start, it was a sure thing that Stephane Peterhansel was champing at the bit behind the “newcomer". Today, “Mister Dakar" took advantage of the problems experienced by his illustrious team-mate by masterfully controlling his race. Furthermore, it would be simplistic to merely attribute this victory to the difficulties encountered by Loeb. On slow and bumpy tracks, Peterhansel let his experience and skills in reading the terrain shine through to pick up a second convincing victory at the finishing line.

Carlos Sainz also let his experience do the talking with a second placed finish. However, whilst punctures are part of the territory on the Dakar's stages, the accelerator problems suffered by Sebastien Loeb, after those of Cyril Despres yesterday, are a little more worrying this evening for the Peugeot team. At the moment, the consequences are still limited, but a repetition of these setbacks could breathe new life into the race sooner than expected. At the least, these are most probably the hopes of Nasser Al Attiyah (Mini) who was again faced with making up the numbers today. In the general standings, the gaps have been spectacularly reduced. Peterhansel leads Loeb by 27 seconds and Sainz by 5'55''. Al Attiyah (Mini) is somehow hanging in there in fourth place, 15'19'' behind Peter.

As regards the bike category, Toby Price, victorious yesterday on the first marathon stage, picked up another success today. Trailing by more than 2 minutes at CP3, he eventually won with a lead of 1'12'' over the Honda of Goncalves. Despite his excellent start, the Portuguese rider was utterly unable to counter his rival's comeback. Nonetheless, he keeps the lead in the general standings by 35 seconds. The discrete but efficient Walkner is now third, 2'50'' behind. The stage witnessed a considerable number of withdrawals among which the most notable was Ruben Faria (Husqvarna) due to a fractured wrist. As for Joan Barreda (Honda), he drops into the depths of the general standings following repeated mechanical problems…

In the quad category, today the Patronelli brothers, returning to the Dakar this year, picked up a one-two finish, with Marcos beating Alejandro by 6'39''. In the general standings, the Argentineans have also climbed onto the first two steps of the podium, but this time Alejandro leads. Russia's Sergei Karyakin completes the top three, 5 ‘39'' behind the leader.

Lastly, although the truck category contested a different and shorter stage, the special was still as breath-taking. Once again, three Dutchmen were in the day's top three, but this time Hans Stacey made the difference on the final portion to beat Gerard de Rooy by 7 seconds. In the general standings, Stacey has taken advantage of the relatively below par performance by Villagra, who finished 9th today, to take the lead. He now lies ahead of Pieter Versluis by 59 seconds and Argentinean Federico Villagra by 4'05''.

2016 Dakar Rally Stage Six Results
CARS
1. Stephane Peterhansel (FRA) 05:01:07
2. Carlos Sainz (ESP) +00:00:22
3. Yazeed Alrajhi (SAU) +00:07:19
4. Sebastien Loeb (FRA) +00:08:15
5. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) +00:08:51

BIKES
1. Toby Price (AUS) 05:51:48
2. Matthias Walkner (AUT) +00:01:05
3. Paulo Goncalves (POR) +00:01:12
4. Stefan Svitko (SVK) +00:04:44
5. Helder Rodrigues (PRT) +00:05:23

TRUCKS
1. Hans Stacey (NLD) 02:55:35
2. Gerard de Rooy (NLD) +00:00:07
3. Pieter Versluis (NLD) +00:01:15
4. Eduard Nikolaev (RUS) +00:02:11
5. Dmitry Sotnikov (RUS) +00:02:21

QUADS
1. Marcos Patronelli (ARG) +06:53:39
2. Alejandro Patronelli (ARG) +00:06:39
3. Brian Baragwanath (ZAF) +00:08:21
4. Sergei Kariakin (RUS) +00:18:01
5. Jeremias Gonzalez (ARG) +00:21:17

2016 Dakar Rally Overall Standings
CARS
1. Stephane Peterhansel (FRA) 18:26:20
2. Sebastien Loeb (FRA) +00:00:27
3. Carlos Sainz (ESP) +00:05:55
4. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) +00:15:19
5. Giniel de Villiers (ZAF) +000:29:21

BIKE
1. Paulo Goncalves (POR) 20:23:07
2. Toby Price (AUS) +00:00:35
3. Matthias Walkner (AUT) +00:02:50
4. Stefan Svitko (SVK) +00:05:17
5. Pablo Quintanilla (CHL) +00:15:10

TRUCKS
1. Hans Stacey (NLD) 17:05:09
2. Pieter Versluis (NLD) +00:00:59
3. Federico Villagra (ARG) +00:04:05
4. Gerard de Rooy (NLD) +00:05:36
5. Ayrat Mardeev (RUS) +00:12:06

QUADS
1. Alejandro Patronelli (ARG) 24:01:27
2. Marcos Patronelli (ARG) +00:02:48
3. Sergei Kariakin (RUS) +00:05:39
4. Jeremias Gonzalez (ARG) +00:24:59
5. Walter Nosiglia (BOL) +00:32:39