Spanish competitors had a great day in the Dakar Rally on Monday with Carlos Sainz and Isidre Esteve Pujol taking the overall lead in the car and motorbike standings.
Reigning motorbike champion Marc Coma of Spain won the 252km third stage between Nador and Rachidia in Morocco, in front of American Chris Blais and Pujol, while in the car section, South Africa's Giniel De Villiers won to push Sainz and Stephane Peterhansel of France into the minor placings.
Coma, who had started the race in Portugal cautiously, made his intentions clear once the race arrived on African soil, and he remains a strong contender to gain back-to-back titles.
PHOTO: AFP
It was a frustrating day however for the 2005 motorbike champion, Cyril Despres of France, who lost more than 20 minutes after the gearbox of his KTM broke.
"I am really not lucky," Despres told the Dakar Web site. "Nothing but bad luck. Anyway, the race is not lost yet. The other riders can also have problems. My problem right now is that I have to ride for 200km in first gear [until the bivouac]."
Portuguese rider Ruben Faria, winner of the opening stage, also had engine trouble with his Yamaha.
Fortune had swung the other way for Blais who had lost more than 11 minutes on Sunday because of an oil problem.
On Monday he made the most of a late start to give himself a chance of a stage victory, overtaking about 40 competitors and clocking the best time at the 113km first timing point though he lost time from then on in the fastest section to finish less than a minute behind Coma.
In the car event, there was a real cat-and-mouse battle between De Villiers and fellow VW driver Sainz, who had won the preceding stage in Portugal, though De Villiers edged the victory by 25sec and by 3min 18sec in front of Peterhansel's Mitsubishi. France's reigning champion Luc Alphand was fourth at 3:42 and finally moved into the top 10, in eighth spot.
Japan's Hiroshi Masuoka, who had been among the leaders at the first timing point, became the victim of a power steering breakdown and finished the stage in seventh spot nearly six minutes back.
Germany's Jutta Kleinschmidt, the only woman to win what many consider the most dangerous and toughest challenge in world motorsport, suffered a setback when her BMW went into a ditch and caught fire before the day's first checkpoint.
The flames were extinguished but Kleinschmidt lost time while she waited for help to get her stricken vehicle back on the road.
Six of the 510 crews who started from Lisbon pulled out of the event, which ends in the Senegalese capital on Jan. 21.
The competitors were in for a long day yesterday with the 679km fourth stage between Rachidia and Ouarzazate, which has a 405km timed section.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was