DAKAR 2024

Carlos Sainz is the leader of the Dakar and Peterhansel turns 50

Yesterday was Three Kings Day and today is Legends Day at the Dakar. Because two of the giants of the race have been the protagonists of the second stage today: Stéphane Peterhansel adding his 50th stage victory in cars and Carlos Sainz climbing to the lead of the race.

Sainz, at the top...Today was not the day for Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz to win their first stage in the Dakar 2024, but it was to get a perhaps greater prize, the lead of the race. This has been the case since the Madrid native and the Catalan, who started second on the second day, are the new reference in the car category.

The man from Madrid had a single mission to fulfill: hunt down De Mevius, who was an easy prey by opening a trail (he passed him around km 200) and made it easier with a first navigation error. With those three minutes recovered over the Frenchman from Toyota, the lead was his... and even opening the track when he overtook him, he had enough distance to maintain it without problems (especially since it was impossible for De Mevius to regain control in the Spanish dust).

In fact, the Madrid native has given the Frenchman a good advantage, in the final part, where De Mevius got lost again and suffered a puncture. In total, almost nine and a half minutes ahead of yesterday's winner.

"The stage has been difficult to navigate and even more so opening the way, with very complicated areas," Sainz analyzed at the finish line. "We caught De Mevius, then we had a puncture, we passed him again... From then on I think he made a mistake somewhere, because navigation today was difficult," he summarized.

Peterhansel, fiftieth anniversary... and historic... Stéphane Peterhansel's triumph, very much in his style, comes just one day after suffering a lot at the wheel of his hybrid Audi. Yesterday he did not put any heat on it when it came to admitting that it was slow, but today he has remade himself in a big way, something that is usually common for him.

A victory that is also doubly special: it is Monsieur Dakar's 50th in cars, which means he ties at the top of this classification with Ari Vatanen. In addition... it allows him to recover more than half of the distance lost yesterday with Sainz, since the 14-time Dakar winner has surpassed the Spaniard by 17:15.

Nasser Al-Attiyah also reacted today, knowing that with Sainz ahead he had a good opportunity to reduce his time. But his pace has not been as devastating as Peterhansel's (he arrived 6:28 behind the winner)... not even like Loeb's who, with his own car, challenged his compatriot for victory. .

The Qatari broke a rear steering bar on his car (the same breakdown as Loeb yesterday), and complained a lot about the behavior of the rear of his Hunter: "We have to work with the team to understand these problems. We are still at the beginning and There is not much distance with those in front," he said at the finish line.

Enrique Naranjo