QAISUMAH: South African Giniel De Villiers won Thursday’s gruelling fifth stage of the Dakar Rally that left leading motorcyclist Kevin Benavides with a broken nose as he shattered his helmet jumping off a dune.
De Villiers completed the 456km special in his Toyota in 5hr 09min 25sec, finishing 0.58sec ahead of compatriot Brian Baragwanath, who has picked up another podium finish this year following second place on the prologue.
‘Mr Dakar’, aka 13-time winner Stephane Peterhansel rounded out the podium, stretching his lead in the overall standings over Nasser al-Attiyah to 6:11 after the Qatari finished fourth, 2:13 behind the Frenchman.
Defending champion Carlos Sainz is in third overall, 48:13 off the pace.
“Since the beginning…
