Sainz extends lead after winning fifth stage

Spain's Carlos Sainz extended his overall lead in the Dakar Rally yesterday after winning the winding fifth stage through the desert from Oaurzazate to Tan Tan in Morocco. The double world rally champion, a Dakar Rally debutant last year, is now...

Spain's Carlos Sainz extended his overall lead in the Dakar Rally yesterday after winning the winding fifth stage through the desert from Oaurzazate to Tan Tan in Morocco.

The double world rally champion, a Dakar Rally debutant last year, is now leading his Volkswagen team-mate Giniel de Villiers, of South Africa, by three minutes and 36 seconds.

Defending champion Luc Alphand was in fifth place for Mitsubishi.

In the motorcycle category, a day after the death of South African rider Elmer Symons, Spaniard Marc Coma saw his lead trimmed slightly by Isidre Esteve after riding with his compatriot for most of the stage.

Esteve, one of seven leading riders on KTM machines, won his first stage of the event to claw back nearly two minutes. Coma leads by nine minutes and 56 seconds.

The rally, which ends in the Senegalese capital on Jan. 21, enters Mauritania today after a drive across the Western Sahara.

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