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- The veteran Spaniard, in his Mini, was off the leading duo鈥檚 pace all stage
- Local favorite Yasir Seaidan (Race) came in third
HARADH: Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel edged defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah by just 15 seconds to win stage nine of the Dakar Rally on Tuesday as pressure mounted on overall leader Carlos Sainz.
Nicknamed 鈥楳r. Dakar鈥� for his 13 previous Dakar victories (seven in a car and six on a bike), Mini driver Peterhansel clocked 3hr 08min 31sec on the 410km special of the mammoth 886km stage. It was his third stage win of this Dakar, being held for the first time in 抖阴短视频.
鈥淭oday it was, again, a stage with full attack,鈥� said Peterhansel. 鈥淲e tried to push at full attack from the beginning, but never opening the gas too much.鈥�
Local favorite Yasir Seaidan (Race) came in third while overall race leader Sainz finished fifth, 6min 31sec off the pace.
The veteran Spaniard, in his Mini, was off the leading duo鈥檚 pace all stage, and sees his lead cut to just 24sec over Toyota鈥檚 Al-Attiyah.
Peterhansel remains in third place in the general classification, 6:38 off the pace.
Al-Attiyah said he was content with a good day鈥檚 racing.
鈥淲e tried to do our best and today I think we did a really good stage,鈥� said the driver who has represented Qatar in six Olympic Games, winning bronze in the men鈥檚 skeet event in London in 2012.
鈥淚鈥檓 quite happy to close the gap with Carlos.
鈥淚 think tomorrow and after tomorrow will be very, very difficult for everybody. It鈥檚 good tomorrow that Stephane is opening on marathon day. We鈥檒l see now about Carlos, but, okay, it looks like the three cars are very close together. For all three of us, it is possible that one can win the Dakar.鈥�
Peterhansel added: 鈥淲e鈥檒l try to keep the pressure on the leader.鈥�
In the motorbike category, resuming after stage eight was canceled following the death of Portuguese rider Paulo Goncalves, Pablo Quintanilla notched up his first win.
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The Chilean, on a Husqvarna, won the special with a lead of almost two minutes over Australia鈥檚 defending champion Toby Price.
As a result, he continues to put pressure on general standings leader Ricky Brabec, the American Honda rider nevertheless managing to limit the damage (+20:53) by finishing less than four minutes behind the day鈥檚 winner in fourth spot.
Wednesday鈥檚 stage 10 from Haradh to Shubaytah takes competitors into the infamous 鈥楻ub Al-Khali鈥� or 鈥楨mpty Quarter鈥�, a huge sand desert that spreads from host country 抖阴短视频 into neighboring Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
Vast off-road expanses feature, with the last 30 kilometers of the stage going right through the dunes in what promises to be a tough challenge.