Carlos Sainz won the 10th stage of the Dakar Rally to extend his overall lead again with four stages remaining Tuesday. Sainz finished the 238km stage from La Serena to the Chilean capital Santiago 28 seconds ahead of Stephane Peterhansel of France and 1:02 in front of Volkswagen teammate Mark Miller of the United States. Sainz boosted his overall lead by a minute and a half to lead VW teammate Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar by 10:06, and Miller by 28:29. “No problems,” said a satisfied Sainz. Peterhansel, a nine-time winner of the Dakar, said the race will be won for the first time this weekend by either Sainz, the two-time world rally champion from Spain, or Al-Attiyah. “Tomorrow I hope I won't get in the way of the fight for the lead between Sainz and Al-Attiyah,” Peterhansel said. “It's a fierce battle for first place and 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.” Peterhansel's BMW was fourth overall, 2:14:20 behind Sainz. Al-Attiyah said Wednesday's leg from Santiago back across the Andes through a 3,500-meter (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.” In motorbikes, defending champ Marc Coma of Spain won the stage. 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.
