Spain's Sainz takes 10th stage, stretches Dakar Rally lead

SANTIAGO, Chile -- Carlos Sainz found the Andes foothills trail more to his liking in winning his first stage in the Dakar Rally and extending his overall lead again with four stages remaining on Tuesday.

After six runner-up finishes, Sainz was in his element on the 10th stage from La Serena to the Chilean capital Santiago, 138 miles of stony, windy tracks that required a lot of controlled skids. The two-time world rally champion from Spain trailed main rival and Volkswagen teammate Nasser Al-Attiyah for the first 80 kilometers then cruised home in 3 hours, 1 minute, 5 seconds.

"No problems," a satisfied Sainz said after his 16th stage win in his fourth Dakar.

Stephane Peterhansel of France was 28 seconds behind in second, and Sainz's VW teammate Mark Miller of the United States was 62 seconds back in third.

Sainz boosted his overall lead by a minute and a half to lead Qatar's Al-Attiyah by 10:06, and Miller by 28:29. With VW still dominating the podium, the manufacturer was all but ensured of winning the Dakar for a second straight year.

Peterhansel, a nine-time winner of the Dakar, was fourth in his BMW, more than two hours behind Sainz.

He believed the race will be won for the first time this weekend by either Sainz or Al-Attiyah.

"Tomorrow I hope I won't get in the way of the fight for the lead because between Sainz and Al-Attiyah, it's a fierce battle for first place," Peterhansel said. "I wouldn't want either of them to be in my dust and make a mistake. We will try and drive fast but if we hear someone behind, we'll let them pass."

Al-Attiyah said Wednesday's leg from Santiago back across the Andes through a 10,000-foot pass into Argentina could favor him.

"I'm quite happy with today," Al-Attiyah said. "It's normal when you start as the first car to lose a lot of time. Tomorrow there will be some offroad and more dunes. It will be good for me."

Sainz also will be mindful that he was leading last year's race until he crashed out on the 12th stage.

In motorbikes, defending champ Marc Coma of Spain on a KTM won his fourth stage of this year's race in 3:10:43, more than two minutes ahead of the Yamahas of David Fretigne of France and Helder Rodrigues of Portugal.

France's Cyril Despres finished a safe sixth but holds a massive overall lead of 1:22:49 over Norway's Pal Anders Ullevalseter.

Despite his large lead, Despres said he was fearful of losing it on Tuesday's slippery stage with rocks all over the road -- far different than the previous week of stages across the Atacama Desert.

"Today we could have easily lost first place in the rally, so I protected my lead," Despres said. "For me there was no need to go on an all-out attack. We're now on a different type of terrain with hard tracks that we have to adapt. It's completely different."

Hospital officials in Santiago said on Tuesday the condition of Italian motorcyclist Luca Manca had improved following a life-threatening crash last Thursday. Manca, 29, suffered serious head injuries and remains on a respirator and in an induced coma, hospital spokeswoman Manuela Orellana said.

The Dakar was moved to South America in 2009 because of the possibility of a terrorist attack in Africa.