Dakar Rally 2017 stage 10 resumed after a whole rest day on stage 9 which had been cancelled due to bad weather. The competitors rallied from Chilecito to San Juan, experiencing low altitudes which brought about increased temperatures as opposed to the cool high altitudes on the Bolivian plains.
Sebastien Loeb initially won the stage, which would have been his fourth stage win but his arch rival, Mr. Dakar would eventually reclaim that win after the race. Stephane Peterhansel was given back time his lost while waiting with biker Simon Marčič for medical help to arrive, altogether, he managed to win the stage and extend his lead in the overall classification to 6 minutes. Loeb thus settled for second place while Cyril Despres finished in third, yet another 1-2-3 for Peugeot Sport.
The bike category was initially won by Honda’s Michael Metge, unfortunately he was penalized for missing a way point, teammate Joan Barreda claimed the win instead. KTM’s Štefan Svitko finished second ahead of Honda rider Franco Caimi. In the overall classification, KTM’s Sam Sunderland continues to hold the lead over fellow teammates Matthias Walkner and Gerard Farrés.
Photos by @World/ A.Lavadinho
Sergey Karyakin won his second stage yesterday in the quads category leading fellow Yamaha teammate Ignacio Casale while Santiago Hansen gave Honda a third place. Karyakin continues to lead the overall classification over Casale and third placed Axel Dutreil, all Yamaha riders.
The truck category was dominated by Kamaz, where Eduard Nikolaev grabbed his second stage victory leading Dmitry Sotnikov and Ayrat Mardeev. Nikolaev leads Sotnikov in the overall classification with Gerard de Rooy in third for Iveco.
Two stages remain in the Dakar Rally 2017, today’s stage 11 runs from San Juan to Río Cuarto.