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.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
THRILLER: Raphinha gave Barca a 3-2 lead with two minutes remaining of regular time, but Francesco Acerbi equalized the game in the second minute of added time Davide Frattesi on Tuesday fired Inter into the UEFA Champions League final with an extra-time winner that gave the Italians a stunning 4-3 triumph over Barcelona, 7-6 on aggregate. Italy midfielder Frattesi won a tie for the ages under a downpour in Milan when he lashed home in the 99th minute, sending a packed and rocking San Siro wild with joy. Simone Inzaghi’s team will face either Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain at the end of this month in Munich, Germany, where they would feel they have a great chance to be crowned kings of Europe for a fourth time after
RSS