2010 Dakar Stage 11: Double Trouble Cost Carlos Sainz

James BroomheadJan 13, 2010

A pair of punctures saw Carlos Sainz lose half of his overall lead to teammate Nasser Al-Attiyah as the Dakar crossed back over the Andes and returned to Argentina on stage 11.

The 220 kilometer route saw the stage reach over 3000 meters above sea level before finishing at San Juan, at a little under a third of that altitude.

Sainz, the overall leader by over 10 minutes at the start of the day, led the cars off due to his winning the previous stage and looked like he would strengthen his grip on the title he threw away a year ago.

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At the first of the day’s Iritrack points, he was narrowly ahead of Al-Attiyah. Both, however, were still in easy striking distance of the stage lead. But it was soon to go downhill for Sainz.

The VW’s positioning beacon showed Sainz briefly stopped around the 77 kilometer mark. When the car was next seen, it was reported to have significant damage to the roof, and the left air intake for the 300hp TDI engine in the rear was ripped off—damage that isn’t exactly explained by the official reports about the Spaniard suffering two slow punctures.

This left Al-Attiyah with a glaring opportunity to make up time, an opportunity he did not pass up, as the Qatari stayed within two minutes of the stage leaders. Sainz continued to lose time, his engine perhaps suffering as a result of the damage.

The man he ended up chasing was Guerlain Chicherit, another of the inevitable hard luck stories of every Dakar. The Frenchman lies fifth overall, nearly half his two-hour, 23 minute deficit coming on the very first day of the race. But nothing was going to stop him taking his first stage win of the year.

After seeing off the challenge of teammate Peterhansel, who lost five minutes in the second half of the stage, he won the stage by 30 seconds from surprise package Orlando Terranova, the Argentine showing the potential of the petrol-engined Mitsubishi after its diesel failed so dramatically last year.

They were followed by Giniel De Villiers, Al-Attiyah, and Mark Miller completing the top five, with Sainz ninth fastest, seven hours and 19 minutes behind Chicherit.

The bike stage leader board had an unusual feel to it today, many of the more familiar names encountering problems or (as is more than likely in the case of comfortable leader Cyril Despres) just taking the day easy.

Just like in the car race, the first racer on the stage encountered problems. Marc Coma made a navigational error and had to make a six kilometer detour to get back to the right track, losing 10 minutes to the stage leaders he was never able to make up.

It was a battle between American Jonah Street and Dutchman Frans Verhoeven for the stage win as both sought their first victory this year. Street, who lies seventh overall, led the stage early on and held Verhoeven’s BMW off, leading by nine seconds at both of the first half timing points.

But Verhoeven, who lies 49th overall, 16.5 hours behind Despres, had pulled level by 148 kilometers before pulling ahead of Street to win by only three seconds. Alain Duclos, the best amateur overall, was third on stage ahead of Pal Anders Ullevalseter, who pulled ahead in the battle for second.

Firdaus Kabirov once more postponed Vladimir Chagin’s record 56th stage victory, beating his Kamaz teammate by 32 seconds.

Stage 11 results:

Bikes:

1. Frans Verhoeven (BMW) 2h44:50

2. Jonah Street (KTM) +0h00:03

3. Alain Duclos (KTM) +0h01:25

4. Pal Anders Ullevalseter (KTM) +0h02:26

5. Francisco Lopez Contardo (Aprilia) +0h03:48

Cars:

1. Guerlain Chicherit (BMW) 2h34:51

2. Orlando Terranova (Mitsubishi) +0h00:30

3. Giniel De Villiers (VW) +0h00:39