Spanish motorcyclist Isidre Pujol and car-driving compatriot Carlos Sainz came out on top in Thursday's 257km 12th stage of the Dakar Rally between Ayoun el Atrous in Mauratania and Kayes in Mali.
It was the third stage win for Sainz in this year's race, but the former world rally champion, in ninth place behind race leader Stephane Peterhansel of France, still has plenty of work to do in the overall standings.
"It was a difficult stage both in terms of driving and in terms of navigation," Sainz said.
PHOTO: AFP
"It was also a fast one from the start. The car was hit a bit because there were quite a lot of tricky paths between trees," he said.
`Important'
"Today's victory is particularly important because the Volkswagen team was a bit down after all that happened," he said. "By winning, we showed again that we are competitive and that the work done was useful."
"It showed to the outside world that the team, the car and the organization are great performers. Our mechanical problems were like a rude awakening and during trials nothing had led us to thinking it might actually happen. I had come to win. Now I will keep fighting for stage victories," he said.
Sainz, who is more than seven hours behind Peterhansel, was a previous overall leader of the race, as was his South African Volkswagen teammate Giniel de Villiers.
But both men suffered serious mechanical difficulties earlier in the week that knocked them further off the lead. De Villiers is 8 hours, 45 minutes off the lead and in 12th place overall.
Former world ski champion and Dakar title holder Luc Alphand came in third in Thursday's stage to cut his deficit in the standings behind his Mitsubishi teammate Peterhansel to six-and-a-half minutes.
Tough Navigation
"I am happy to be through this tricky day, in which navigation was tough," said Peterhansel, who was sixth in Thursday's stage.
"I lost a bit of time over Luc but it's not so bad," he said. "Today, I am the leader ,but there can still be a technical problem, a navigation or even a driving error."
"So far there have been no race strategy orders. But we have responsibilities and we are big boys. We can't go for it as if we had nothing to lose. It would not be nice if we were to crash the cars at this stage in the race," he said.
Pujol, riding a KTM motorcycle, picked up his second stage this year and a ninth for his team.
For the first time, overall leader motorcycle leader Marc Coma lost time and came in 16th in the stage, 17 minutes, 20 seconds adrift.
But the Spanish cyclist is still firmly in overall control with a nearly 53 minute cushion over KTM teammate Cyril Despres of France.
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