Sainz seals first Dakar stage win

Carlos Sainz closed in on victory in the Dakar Rally as he won today's 10th stage.

The Volkswagen driver, a former two-time world rally champion, came out on top on the 238-kilometre run from La Serena to Santiago to claim his 16th career stage win and his first of this year's event.

France's Stephane Peterhansel finished second for BMW, 28 seconds behind Sainz, with America's Mark Miller coming in third in another Volkswagen.

Nasser Al-Attiyah, who currently lies second in the overall standings, could only place fourth and he now lies over 10 minutes behind his Spanish team-mate having given up 1min 40secs today.

Marc Coma took another stage win in the bike class but the Spaniard is well off the pace after problems earlier in the event, France's Cyril Despres holds a lead of 1hr 22min 49secs overall.

Ireland’s Philip Noone finished 91st of the 93 riders and is 89th in the overall standings.

Russia's Vladimir Chagin continued his inexorable march towards victory in the truck category as he extended his already healthy aggregate lead with another stage win.

Juan Manuel Gonzalez Corominas took the glory in the quad class but Argentina's Marcos Patronelli looks destined for overall honours as he leads by almost two-and-a-half hours.