Marc Coma comes to life in third stage of Dakar
Coma, the 2009 champion, finished the stage in northern Argentina in 4 hours, 18 minutes, 55 seconds - 2:21 ahead of Despres. That left Despres, the 2010 champion, with only a 14-second lead going into today, when the rally crosses into Chile.
"That was a really authentic Dakar day: The first part with lots of navigation, then more riding on the rest. I'm happy with where I am," said Coma.
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Hide AdIn cars, Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar took the stage in 3:42:20, edging Volkswagen team-mate Carlos Sainz by 25 seconds.
Defending champion Sainz kept the overall lead, 3:34 ahead of Al-Attiyah and 4:19 in front of Stephane Peterhansel.