RALLY DAKAR 2019

Step 2: Sébastien Loeb wins, Giniel de Villiers takes the lead

Sébastien Loeb is the great winner of the second stage of the Dakar. The French rider, with a Peugeot 3008 DKR from PH Sport, won the stage after dominating from, roughly, mid-day. However, an excellent finale from Nani Roma almost gave the Spaniard a victory, which ended just 8s behind Loeb, recovering 1.51s in the last few kilometers. Closing the podium of the stage was Bernhard Ten Brinke. Toyota's Dutchman lost 1.20s to Loeb.
The fourth place of the stage went to Giniel de Villiers, who always rode in the podium positions, less in the end. Closing the top five was Yazeed al-Rajhi. Cyril Despres was sixth, past Harry Hunt in the final, with Carlos Sainz finishing eighth. Nasser Al-Attiyah made the 11th time, 7.37s behind Loeb, with Martin Prokop finishing in the next position, but already at 9.48s of the fastest.
Stéphane Peterhansel finished 17th, losing 15.09s to Loeb, while Boris Garafulic - navigated by Filipe Palmeiro - was 18th, 16.24 seconds out of the fastest time.
In the overall standings, the new leader is Villiers. The South African rider took the lead, taking 28s to Ten Brinke. The podium closes with Nani Roma, who is 42 seconds from the Toyota driver. Al Rajhi is fourth, being the last rider less than a minute from first place, being in the 50s.
With today's win, Sébastien Loeb rose to fifth, 1.56s behind Villiers. Sainz is in the next position, 32s behind Loeb. Al-Attiyah, who was the leader, dropped to eighth, being 3.26s from first place. Peterhansel is 13th, 13.55 seconds behind the leader. Step 2: Matthias Walkner presses Ricky Brabec
It is already in the fifth 'waypoint' that is the second edition of the 2019 edition of the Dakar and encompasses 342 kilometers timed.
The race is being run from the start by Ricky Brabec, but the Honda rider has been closely followed by Matthias Walkner, this one in KTM. The two drivers are now separated by 18s in a fight that promises to last until the end of the day.
It follows Joan Barreda Bort, but already to 2m43s, situation that does perigar its leadership of the race against the two pilots who follow in front of him. Toby Price and Sam Sunderland complete the top five, but already more than three minutes into a phase in which KTM places three bikes in the top five.
He also notes that Paulo Gonçalves will battle to enter the top 10. In the last waypoint where his passage is recorded, the Honda man was 11th in practically one minute of entering the lot of the 10 fastest of the day.
Rodrigo Fernandes/ Alexandre Melo, de Portugal