Nasser Al-Attiyah survives rocky route to win Dakar stage
ALULA, Saudi Arabia: Defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota) used all his experience of the rocky conditions to win a tough 430km second stage from Sea Camp to AlUla in the 45th Dakar Rally on Monday.As many of his rivals were held up by a series of punctures, including Sebastien Loeb (Prodrive) who lost almost an hour and a half, the Qatari Al-Attiyah plowed to a provisional 14-second win over Erik Van Loon (Overdrive).Carlos Sainz (Audi) was third man home, 5 minutes 5 seconds back, which was enough to give the Spaniard the lead in the provisional general classification, 2min 12sec ahead of Al-Attiyah.Mathieu Serradori (Century) is running third, 24min 55sec behind Sainz.“It was absolutely the time to attack and drive a good stage,” said Al-Attiyah.“It was not an easy day. There were a lot of rocks and the navigation wasn’t easy.
