Sainz and Coma continue Spain’s reign

SPAIN’S domination of the first half of the Dakar Rally continued apace yesterday as both former world rally champion Carlos Sainz and Marc Coma won the fourth stage of the car and motorbike disciplines, respectively.

Their victories helped them extend the overall lead in both categories.

Sainz won his second stage of this edition in beating closest rival Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah, winner of the two other stages, by six seconds to extend his lead over him to 3 minutes 46 seconds. France’s 2006 champion Luc Alphand, who lost a lot of time on Monday, was third in the stage over two minutes behind. Coma had earlier strengthened his grip on the motorcycling section after winning the 459km special from Jacobacci.