Giniel De Villiers wins Dakar Rally's 5th stage

The Associated Press ,  Buenos Aires   |  Thu, 01/08/2009 12:09 PM  |  Sports

DAMAGED RALLY:: Driver Carlos Sainz of Spain steers his damaged Volkswagen during the 5th stage of the Argentina Dakar Rally 2009 between Neuquen and San Rafael, Argentina on Wednesday. AP/Christophe Ena

Nasser Al Attiyah eclaimed the lead from Carlos Sainz in their Dakar Rally duel on Wednesday, which marked another death in the fabled race's history.

The body of French motorcyclist Pascal Terry, missing since Sunday, was found in dense bush between Santa Rosa and Puerto Madryn. The first-time Dakar racer was near his motobike without his helmet, with food and water beside him. Las Pampas regional police were investigating.

Meanwhile, Al Attiyah and Sainz, who had shared the previous four stages, bowed to Giniel De Villiers of South Africa in the fifth stage between Neuquen and San Rafael over the Patagonian steppe.

DeVilliers powered his Volkswagen through a swath of troublesome sand dunes to complete the 506-kilometer (314-mile) stage in 5 hours, 47 minutes, 43 seconds. He was 2:18 ahead of German teammate Dieter Depping. U.S. driver Robby Gordon was third in his Hummer, 4:12 back.

"This was undoubtedly the toughest tage so far," De Villiers said. "There was quite a bit of offroad and it was hard to find the right way."

Sainz began the stage with a 3:46 overall lead from Al Attiyah, bt made a mistake which cost him his front hood. Sainz finished the stage ninth, but Al Attiyah was fourth in his BMW, and the Qatari grabbed the overall lead by almost 2{ minutes on De Villiers. Sainz, Al Attiyah's Spanish rival in the Volkswagen, dropped back to third, 6:33 behind with the race about to reach the Andes foothills on Thursday.

Defending champion Stephane Peterhansel of France, lost his rear hood in a roll but finished fifth in the stage without a radiator, and was fourth overall, nearly 14 minutes off the pace. The Dakar's most successful driver with nine titles was contemplating whether to continue.

Marc Coma of Spain continued to lead the motorbike class, but his ample lead over American Jonah Street was slashed from 43 minutes to 27 because of a flat tire.

Street won the stage in 6:41:06 after he had been trailing Chilean Francisco Lopez for most of the race. Street was nearly six minutes behind Lopez at the second checkpoint but powered through the final kilometers (miles) to finish 7:34 ahead of Lopez, who finished third. Dutchman Frans Verhoeven was second, 5:53 behind Street.

The 49-year-old Terry informed race organizers on Sunday that he had run out of fuel but then obtained some from another rider. Later, he sent out an alert, and a search was launched. Rescuers had a difficult time because of the dense terrain.

Two motorcyclists died in the last rally, in 2007.

On Tuesday, the search was briefly called off after rescuers thought they spotted him. A rescue team finally reached him overnight.

Meanwhile, car fires knocked out two world champions from France, Christian Lavieille and Yvan Muller.

Thursday's sixth stage is 395 kilometers (245 miles) between San Rafael and Mendoza, the heart of Argentina's wine region, nestled at the base of the Andes. The rally finishes on Jan. 18 in Buenos Aires.

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