Buenos Aires: Carlos Sainz endured two punctures and lost more than half of his lead time as the Dakar Rally left Chile and returned to Argentina on Wednesday.
A day after winning his first stage, Sainz finished ninth on the 220-kilometer (137-mile) tight, gravelly route from Santiago across the Andes and descending into San Juan.
Sainz's lead of more than 10 minutes was cut to just 4:28 over Volkswagen teammate Nasser Al Attiyah with three stages to go before the rally ends tomorrow in Buenos Aires. Nobody else was within 20 minutes of them.
"I took five minutes from him (Sainz) and now the gap is only four minutes," Al Attiyah said.
"The next three days will be very long. Yes, absolutely, Carlos is nervous. I want to win the Dakar."
Guerlain Chicherit of France in a BMW won the 11th stage, his first on the Dakar in four years, in 2:34:51. Orlando Terranova of Argentina in a Mitsubishi was second, 30 seconds back, and 2009 champion Giniel de Villiers of South Africa was third, 39 seconds behind in his VW.
Qatar's Al Attiyah was fourth, 1:41 back, and Sainz was 7:19 off the pace.
"We had two slow punctures," said Sainz, the two-time world rally champion.
Losing time
"I don't know how we got them. We kept losing time and had to stop...We couldn't do anything. There were lots of trees on the stage and we hit quite a few of them."
Overall motorbike leader Cyril Despres of France continued to hold a commanding lead of 1:20:54 ahead of Pal Anders Ullevalseter of Norway.
Despres finished seventh on a stage won by Frans Verhoeven of the Netherlands on a BMW in 2:44:50. Jonah Street of the United States was second on a KTM by just three seconds, and Alain Duclos of France was third, also on a KTM, 1:25 behind.
Ullevalseter was fourth and Despres seventh after the high-altitude start which forced mechanics to tinker with the engines to compensate for the lack of oxygen.
"Was I being extremely careful?" Despres was asked. "No. When I climb on the bike I just can't hold myself back. I just want to have fun."
Thursday's 12th stage from San Juan to San Rafael will be 476 kilometres (295 miles) starting among ravines and canyons and finishing in sand. Organisers predicted speed will not be a major factor.
Meanwhile, hospital officials in Chile said Italian motorcyclist Luca Manca had been taken off a respirator, was coming out of an induced coma and continuing to improve.
Manca, 29, suffered life-threatening head injuries when he fell from his bike last Thursday in northern Chile. He was airlifted on Friday to Mutual de Seguridad Hospital in Santiago.
Standings
Wednesday's 11th stage: Cars: 1. Guerlain Chicherit (FRA/BMW) 2hr 34min 51sec, 2. Orlando Terranova (FRA/Stradale) at 30sec, 3. Giniel De Villiers (RSA/Volkswagen) 39sec, 4. Nasser Al Attiyah (QAT/Volkswagen) 1min 41sec, 5. Mark Miller (USA/Volkswagen) 2:50, 6. Stephane Peterhansel (FRA/BMW) 2:52, 7. Robby Gordon (USA/Hummer) 5:01, 8. Nicolas Misslin (FRA/Stradale) 6:54, 9. Carlos Sainz (ESP/Volkswagen) 7:19, 10. Carlos Sousa (POR/Stradale) 7:26.
Overall: 1. Carlos Sainz (ESP/Volkswagen) 39hr 16min 55sec, 2. Nasser Al Attiyah (QAT/Volkswagen) at 4min 28sec, 3. Mark Miller (USA/Volkswagen) 23:50, 4. Stephane Peterhansel (FRA/BMW) 2hr 9min 53sec, 5. Guerlain Chicherit (FRA/BMW) 2hr 23:40, 6. Carlos Sousa (POR/Stradale) 3hr 54:12, 7. Giniel De Villiers (RSA/Volkswagen) 4hr 39:33, 8. Guilherme Spinelli (BRA/Stradale) 5hr 28:25, 9. Orlando Terranova (FRA/Stradale) 5hr 33:42, 10. Robby Gordon (USA/Hummer) 5hr 41:38.
Motorcycles: 1. Frans Verhoeven (NED/BMW) 2hr 44min 50sec, 2. Jonah Street (USA/KTM) at 3sec, 3. Alain Duclos (FRA/KTM) 1min 25sec, 4. Pal Ullevalseter (NOR/KTM) 2:26, 5. Francisco Lopez (CHI/Aprilia) 3:48, 6. David Fretigne (FRA/Yamaha) 3:49, 7. Cyril Despres (FRA/KTM) 4:21, 8. Juan Pedrero Garcia (ESP/KTM) 4:59, 9. Marc Coma (ESP/KTM) 5:08, 10. Jakub Przygonski (POL/KTM) 5:23.
Overall: 1. Cyril Despres (FRA/KTM) 42hr 5min 10sec, 2. Pal Ullevalseter (NOR/KTM) at 1hr 20min 34sec, 3. Francisco Lopez (CHI/Aprilia) 1hr 23:34, 4. Helder Rodrigues (POR/Yamaha) 1hr 30:35, 5. Alain Duclos (FRA/KTM) 1hr 54:39, 6. David Fretigne (FRA/Yamaha) 2hr 00:57, 7. Jonah Street (USA/KTM) 2hr 35:55, 8. Olivier Pain (FRA/Yamaha) 2hr 49:07, 9. Jakub Przygonski (POL/KTM) 3hr 12:18, 10. Juan Pedrero Garcia (ESP/KTM) 3hr 12:44.
