AL QAISUMAH, Saudi Arabia – Giniel de Villiers earned his first stage victory of the Dakar Rally on Thursday while Stephane Peterhansel padded his lead atop the overall standings. Nasser Al-Attiyah, Peterhansel’s closest pursuer in the overall rankings, finished fourth behind Peterhansel and lost more than two minutes to the overall leader on Thursday. Peterhansel’s overall lead now sits at a little more than six minutes. Nicolas Cavigliasso further added to his lead in the quad class with another stage victory, moving him to more than 20 minutes ahead of his closest pursuer. The same could be said for Dmitry Sotnikov in the truck category, who won Thursday’s stage and now sits more than 30 minutes ahead of Anton Shibalov.

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