RALLY DAKAR 2018

Dakar, Stage 8: Triumph for Stéphane Peterhansel
Stéphane Peterhansel won the 8th Stage of the Dakar, beating his team-mate Cyril Després for 49s. The run was well-balanced, despite its timed 498km, with Nasser Al-Attiyah finishing 2m12s behind the Frenchman. Fourth place for Bernhard Ten Brinke, who crossed the finish line five minutes from the winner, and fifth for Carlos Sainz, who yielded 7m04s, little risk. Who lost significant time today was Giniel de Villiers, who gave up 23m19s.With this, Carlos Sainz maintains the lead, now with 1h06m37s of advancement to Nasser Al-Attiyah. Today it recovered a little, and Peterhansel is third, but 1h13.42s of Sainz, therefore being perfectly in time to reach the second place, because it is not far from Attiyah. Already ten minutes from the Peugeot man is Dutchman Ten Brinke, with De Villiers now fifth in 1h37m09s.These are the five riders from which, in normal conditions, the winner of the Dakar will emerge, as the sixth-placed Jacob Przygonski, the best of the Mini (imagine!), Is 2h28m36s.As announced this afternoon, the stage that was scheduled for tomorrow, the ninth, between Tupiza and Salta was canceled, so the competitors will go directly to Salta, where they leave for the 10th Stage.The difference of one hour that Carlos Sainz has will be put to the test, since the stage has two news, allows assistance in the middle, but has great difficulties of navigation, and taking into account that are 372 km to Belén, it will not be easy to no one. But of course, the pressure is greater on those who go ahead. From there until the end competitors still have softer sand, in the stage of Fair between Belén and Chilecito, on the fifth is to have attention in navigation, Friday there are more dunes, San Juan and also the famous' fesh-fesh '. Even on the last day, on Saturday, there will be difficulties, because competitors have 30 crossings in streams. So, as you can see, there is Dakar to the end, because nobody is free from confusion to your side ...Today was also a sad day for the Portuguese colors, as Carlos Sousa will not be able to take Duster from Renault Sport Argentina to Cordoba, as the Portuguese driver was forced to give up on the link to today's stage, following an escape the radiator. A problem detected in yesterday's special, but impossible to solve by the team, because, in the marathon stages, only the pilots are allowed to make repairs and by their own means.


José luis Abreu, Portugal