Floods halt Dakar; Peterhansel keeps overall lead
Flash floods stopped the Dakar Rally on Wednesday but the shortened 11th stage still left Stephane Peterhansel with a commanding lead three days from the finish.
Two swollen rivers forced organisers to stop the cars after 53 kilometres of the scheduled 219-kilometre stage on the sand dunes around Fiambala. Robbie Gordon led in his Hummer at that point, followed by Ronan Chabot and Lucio Alvarez.
Peterhansel, who was lying sixth, was given a provisional 52-minute lead over Giniel de Villiers as he closes in on an 11th career victory in the Dakar.
The motorbikes completed their shortened stage before the rain hit. Defending champion Cyril Despres of France increased his overall lead to 13:16 ahead of KTM teammate Ruben Faria of Portugal, and 18:08 in front of Francisco Lopez of Chile, another KTM rider.
Kurt Caselli of the United States won his second stage in his maiden Dakar.
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RESULTS
Cars - Stage
1. Robby Gordon (USA/Hummer) 50:21
2. Ronan Chabot (Fra/SMG) at 01:08
3. Lucio Álvarez (Arg/Toyota) 02:17
4. Bernard Errandonea (And/SMG) 03:59
5. Giniel De Villiers (RSA/Toyota) 04:25
6. Stephane Peterhansel (Fra/Mini) 05:04
7. Nunzio Coffaro (Ven/Toyota) 05:27
8. Carlos Sousa (Por/Great Wall) 05:55
9. Boris Gadasin (Rus/G-Force Proto) 07:22
10.Orlando Terranova (Arg/BMW) 07:42
Cars - Overall
1. Stephane Peterhansel (Fra/Mini) 29:07:25
2. Giniel De Villiers (RSA/Toyota) at 51:59
3. Leonid Novitskiy (Rus/Mini) 01:26:40
4. Nani Roma (Spa/Mini) 01:37:09
5. Orlando Terranova (Arg/BMW) 02:01:27
6. Carlos Sousa (Por/Great Wall) 02:35:51
7. Guerlain Chicherit (Fra/SMG) 02:56:15
8. Ronan Chabot (Fra/SMG) 02:58:56
9. Bernard Errandonea (And/SMG) 03:01:33
10. Thomasse (Fra/Buggy Md Rallye) 03:44:51
