Today promised a balanced race with added difficulties, but Stéphane Peterhansel proved that “who knows, he won't forget”.
Stéphane Peterhansel (Peugeot) surprised the competition by conquering the 4th stage in style, completing the Jujuy circuit with an 11-second advantage over second-placed, the Spanish Carlos Sainz. As for Sébastien Loeb, the pilot finished in 3rd position, 27 seconds behind the winner. Peugeot thus managed to win the three podium places.After a balanced start, Peterhansel distanced himself from his rivals in the second half of the race. With the victory in the first part of the “Marathon Stage”, which continues tomorrow, Peterhansel achieved his 33rd victory in the Dakar (66th if we count the victories on the motorcycles).
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At the top of the overall standings, French Sebastien Loeb remains at the controls of the Peugeot 2008 DKR16, pressured by Peterhansel, who climbed to second place.
On motorcycles, Joan Barreda dominated the stage from the start, but in the end was penalized for speeding. Thus, the victory ended up smiling to the Portuguese Paulo Gonçalves, with a 2m35s advantage over Rúben Faria (Husqvarna).