Dakar Heads Back to Argentina

Stage ten of the 2015 Dakar Rally has brought the competitors back to Argentina as the competitors get ready for the stretch run of this year's race.

Nasser Al-Attiyah is showing that it will take Force majeure to stop the Qatari from his second Dakar victory. The Mini driver won a class leading fourth stage and extended his overall lead to 28 minutes and 22 seconds. He beat Argentine Orlando Terranova by a minute and 35 seconds on today's stage with Toyota's Yazeed Al-Rahji rounding out the podium, three minutes and 39 seconds back. South Africans Leeroy Poulter and Giniel de Villiers finished fourth and fifth, four minutes and six seconds and four minutes and 24 seconds back respectively.

Bernhard Ten Brinke finished sixth, 57 seconds behind de Villiers with Krzysztof Holowczyc finishing 40 seconds behind the Dutchman. Argentine Emiliano Spataro finished eighth, seven minutes and 19 seconds over Al-Attiyah. Stéphane Peterhansel came home ninth, four seconds back of Spataro and Carlos Sousa rounded out the top ten, eight minutes and 18 seconds back.

Robby Gordon finished 20th, 18 minutes and 32 seconds back.

As stated above, Al-Attiyah extended his overall lead with de Villiers remaining second. Al-Rahji trails by 43 minutes and eight seconds in third. Holowczyc is an hour and 23 seconds back in fourth with Erik Van Loon rounding out the top five, two hours and 51 seconds back after finishing 11th on stage ten.

Peterhansel is 14th, five hours and 14 minutes back. Terranova is 19th, seven hours and eight minutes back with Gordon, just over 33 minutes behind the Argentine.

Joan Barreda won his third stage of the 2015 rally but it appears to be too little too late to resurrect his hopes after a disastrous stage eight. The Honda rider beat current bike class leader Marc Coma by a minute and 39 seconds. Ruben Faria finished third, 18 seconds behind Coma. Toby Price finished two minutes and 14 seconds after Barreda in fourth with Paulo Gonçalves rounding out the top five, three minutes and 46 seconds back of his fellow Honda rider.

Stefan Svitko was sixth on the day, six minutes and 22 seconds back with Hélder Rodrigues four seconds back. Pablo Quintanilla finished three seconds behind the Portuguese rider.

Coma leads Gonçalves by seven minutes and 35 seconds. Quintanilla is 31 minutes and 42 seconds back in third with Price 24 seconds back of the Chilean. Svitko rounds out the top five, 45 minutes and 19 seconds off Coma.

Faria is an hour and 41 minutes back in seventh, Rodrigues is three hours and 22 minutes back in 12th and Barreda rounds out the top fifteen, four hours and 37 minutes behind Coma.

In the quad class, Nelson Augusto Sanabria Galeano won his second stage of the 2015 race but the bigger story was the withdrawal of defending winner Ignacio Casale. The Chilean withdrew after a mechanical problem. He was second, trailing by four minutes to Rafał Sonik entering the stage and was leading the class after stage eight. With Casale's withdrawal, we are guaranteed a first time overall winner in the quad class.

Jeremias Gonzalez Ferioli finished three minutes and 40 seconds back of Sanabria Galeano on stage ten. Walter Nosiglia finished 50 seconds behind the Argentine. Sonic finished five minutes and 44 seconds back in fourth with France's Christophe Declerck rounding out the top five, finishing two minutes behind the Pole.

The quad class is Sonik's to lose in the final three stages as the Pole leads Gonzalez Ferioli by two hours and 51 miuntes. Nostalgia is third, three hours and 44 minutes back. Sanabria Galeano jumped up to fourth, four hours and 18 minutes back and Victor Manuel Gallegos Lozic is fifth, five hours and 35 seconds back after finishing sixth on stage ten.

Eduard Nikolaev won stage ten, his sixth this year, by 49 seconds over Airat Mardeev. Siarhei Viazovich finished a minute and 19 seconds after Nikolaev in third. Aleš Loprais finished fourth, four minutes and 42 seconds back. Dutchmen Gérard de Rooy and Hans Stacey finished fifth and sixth with de Rooy five minutes and 19 seconds off Nikolaev and Stacey a minute and 57 seconds off his fellow countryman.

Andrey Karginov had a rough day, finishing out of the top ten in 14th, 22 minutes and 53 seconds back.

Mardeev sacrificed some time to Nikolaev but still holds a 13-minute and 21-second lead after ten stages. Karginov has fallen to 42 minutes and 46 seconds back in third with Loprais in fourth, an hour and 22 minutes back. Dmitry Sotnikov rounds out the top five, two hours and 19 minutes back after finishing 16th, just over 28 minutes back of Nikolaev.

Stacey is sixth, two hours and 37 minutes off with de Rooy over seven hours and ten minutes back in ninth.

Stage 11 heads from Saltma to Termas de Río Hondo, home to the MotoGP Argentine Grand Prix as the teams back their way back to Buenos Aires.