Dakar 2023, stage 3: Hard setback for Carlos Sainz and Al-Attiyah is the new leader

A day to forget Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz. The Spanish Audi crew, who started stage 3 this Tuesday, a 470 km special from AlUla to Ha’il, gave up a lot of ground with respect to the Qatari in their contention for the long-awaited final sceptre. The Spanish rider had everything to deal with at the start to continue the attack and increase his advantage. He did everything perfectly, occupying second place at kilometer 184. But two subsequent problems took him away from his head, losing 56 minutes compared to the stage winner, Guerlain Chicheritand more importantly, 35 minutes with his great rival, Nasser Al-Attiyahwhich remains 33’11” behind the current champion of the Dakar all in all.

First rear suspension problem

The sun started to roll at kilometer 213, halfway through the special. Carlos and Lucas had to stop and get out of their car to fix a problem with one of the left side rear suspensions. They saved the first moment of panic by losing 33 minutes and starting to recover after such a scare.

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Double flat when I save the day

Al Attiyah He was giving up 11 minutes at that time and while Carlos cut his deficit, Nasser continued to lose. The Spaniard is on a good pace to save a complicated stage. Al Attiyah He continued to lose steam at the opening of the track, 20′ behind the best at kilometer 335, but by then Carlos had suffered more problems that sent him sinking again. Carlos will be slowed down by a double puncture and in each of them he will lose more time than he should: in one of them the jack did not work and in the other a nut failed. Once he was able to resume his march, he lost 56 minutes to the finish line chicheritstage winner, 35′ with respect to Nasser and now the Dakar is very difficult for him: he is 33′ 11″ behind the current winner, who is now positioned as the new leader of the general classification.

However, in a Dakar where things happen every day, a half-hour downside may not be final. Nasser defends himself perfectly when he controls races with such margins, but on a more difficult course that surprises his rivals every day, nothing can be ignored.

Nasser leads the general classification after stage 3 with an advantage of 13’20” over the local Saudi idol Al-Rajhi and Peterhansel and his Audiafter losing more than half an hour on stage 2 due to two holes, they were back in the fight, moving up to third position in 20’45”. Carlos, from 8th place in the standings, will have to risk more than their opponents to make up for lost time in the remaining 11 stages. We must not forget that we still have to enter uncharted territory in the second part of the race, the fear ‘Empty Quarter’ (empty room), a sea of ​​kilometers of sand where many things can happen. In this field, the Audi of Sainz must be higher and the ‘Bullfighter’ He has yet to say his last word.

Czech, 23rd

Carlos Checa (Astara Team) signed another good stage by finishing 23rd, in 28’42” and overall 24th in 1h24’34”. Isidre Esteve (Repsol Rally Team) finished in 31st position in 40’27”. Laia Sanz, who started far away because of the odyssey she experienced in stage 2, where she lost about 7 hours, was able to complete the a good special, finished in the 30th position of the day (at 33’44”).