IQUIQUE, Chile: Carlos Sainz in cars and Marc Coma in motorbikes held their overall leads in the Dakar Rally Thursday while Stephane Peterhansel and Paulo Goncalves won the fifth stage in northern Chile. Peterhansel took the stage across the Atacama Desert in 4 hours, 33 minutes, 19 seconds. He was 1:24 ahead of Nasser Al-Attiyah and 3:15 in front of Sainz. Overall Sainz was 2:26 ahead of Peterhansel and 2:33 in front of Volkswagen teammate Al-Attiyah. In bikes, Goncalves finished the stage 2:18 ahead of Francisco Lopez Contardo of Chile and 2:19 in front of Frans Verhoeven. Coma was fourth but led Cyril Despres overall by 10:14. Despres picked up a 10-minute penalty on the fourth stage for running off the course. “I was told at half past four in the morning that I'd been given a penalty. I just forgot my thermal gloves, so I went back to get them and I didn't see that there were signposts I had to follow at the exit,” said the French rider. “Unfortunately for me, that's the race rule, but I've already forgotten about it with what I experienced today. “This is why I ride rally-raids: 425km of navigation and pleasure. We had to go looking for GPS coordinates that were genuinely like needles in haystacks. Forgetting about the time or penalties, the most important thing for me is to feel good and enjoy myself.”
