Sainz stretches Dakar lead
SHUBAYTAH, Saudi Arabia, Jan 15, (AP): Carlos Sainz stretched his lead on the Dakar Rally to more than 18 minutes after his two closest rivals got lost, while former Formula One champion Fernando Alonso kept going despite a rollover crash with his Toyota.
Sainz started the day with a 24-second lead and claimed the stage win after it was cut short due to strong winds.
Second-place Nasser Al-Attiyah and third-place Stephane Peterhansel both lost large amounts of time when they struggled to find a checkpoint.
“I didn’t think the gap would be so big, but tomorrow it could be the opposite, so I’ll have to stay focused. I could get lost. It happened to the others today so it could happen to me tomorrow,” Sainz said.
Alonso trailed in 55th place, more than an hour behind the leaders. His car pitched sideways on the crest of a sand dune and rolled over twice, forcing him to finish without a windshield.
American Ricky Brabec extended his motorbike lead to 25 minutes with a second-place finish on the stage. His teammate, Joan Barreda, claimed his first stage win.
Vlhova closed the gap to Shiffrin in the slalom standings to 80 points, but she still trails the American by 273 in the overall rankings.
Vlhova beat Shiffrin by a margin of 1.31 seconds in Zagreb 10 days ago, which ended the American’s winning streak in slaloms after nearly a year.
The previous time that Shiffrin lost back-to-back slaloms in a single season was more than five years ago.
In three races in November and December 2014, she placed 11th, fifth and fourth, respectively, and parted ways with long-term coach Roland Pfeifer shortly afterward.
“I am happy to be on the podium again. I am disappointed with my skiing. But that’s ski racing,” Shiffrin said. “After Zagreb, I knew I had to get some training and fix some things with my slalom skiing. I feel like I accomplished a lot in my training but it’s also another race, it’s a different race, it’s a different day, and I didn’t quite put it out there in the race today.”
Shiffrin failed to make up her deficit in the final run even though she was 0.17 seconds faster than Vlhova on a course with more sharp turns than the first leg.
Her head coach, Mike Day, placed the gates for the final run but Shiffrin denied it was set against Vlhova, who favors more straightforward courses.
“You can’t set a course against her right now because her skiing is the best,” Shiffrin said. “So she is able to do any course and handle it the way she needs to.”