Having seen his lead disappear to just 21 seconds yesterday, Henk Lategan reacted strongly and well. Despite a two-minute penalty for speeding in a controlled zone, the South African won the day's stage with a 1:47 lead over Guy Botterill. A performance which allows Lategan to regain some air over Yazeed Al Rajhi, 6th of the day at 5:20. The Century of Matthieu Serradori and Brian Baragwanath as well as the Ford Raptor of Nani Roma are placed between the two men.
Having found himself at the head of the car caravan during the stage, Nasser Al-Attiyah was satisfied with 11th time at 12:17 from Lategan. Hardly better for Mattias Ekström and his Ford Raptor, 16th at 6:30 p.m.
Lategan now has a 5:41 lead over Al Rajhi. The two men have made the gap behind them since Ekström is now at 28:55. The Swede must be wary of Al-Attiyah to save his 3rd place. A little more than five minutes separate the two men.
Among the motorcycles, Toshia Schareina (Honda) won the stage, ahead of his teammates Ricky Brabec (+ 2:07) and Skyler Howes (+ 2:45). Daniel Sanders (KTM), 4th of the day, keeps the lead overall with 12:03 ahead of Schareina. Brabec is 3rd at 31:56.
Tomorrow, we head south with the road to Haradh on generally fast terrain, what's more, over a timed distance that's affordable for the kilometer-gobblers remaining in the race. The conditions of competition at the top will dictate strategies, and will impose whatever happens, to lead at full speed, including simply to maintain one's position. 357km against the clock are on the program.
The Dakar on LN24: Watch this evening at 10 p.m. exclusively the 52-minute summary of the stage and exclusive interviews
