Matthias Walkner and Cyril Despres won Dakar’s Stage 4

The fourth stage has been fatal to the ambitions of the title holder Toby Price, who suffered a high speed fall. His team-mate Matthias Walkner deputised ably by grabbing victory from the hands of the team’s major rival Joan Barreda. In the car race, Cyril Despres won the stage and now leads the general standings.

The competitors commenced a series of five stages on the high plains of the Bolivian Andes, the world’s second highest plateau after Tibet. Swift acclimatisation is necessary with specials contested at 3,500 and 4,000 metres. At this altitude, the competitors are not used to encountering dunes, but that was indeed the challenge faced by the riders and drivers today. In addition, the end of the stage included tricky navigation, after no less than 400 km of the special!

Cars

In the car category, Cyril Despres had a dream of a day, picking up his first stage victory behind the wheel of a car and climbing to the top of the general standings. The Frenchman took advantage of the problems encountered by his team-mates Stéphane Peterhansel, Sébastien Loeb and Carlos Sainz, with the Spaniard in danger of exiting the rally.

The day was crushing not only for Price and Nasser Al-Attiyah. Not a single day is like the one before for Sébastien Loeb, who lost 22 minutes to the day’s winner following a problem with a valve on his turbo. He slipped from first to fourth place in the general standings. Peterhansel got lost on the route, while Sainz was stuck in a ravine for quite a lot of time.

Overall classification after Stage 4:

Bikes

It has been a sad day for Toby Price. The Australian was leading on the last part of the special, but lost control of his KTM at more than 90 kmph and fractured his left thigh bone in a fall, meaning the Dakar is over for the winner in 2016. He may well be leaving his trophy for Joan Barreda, who is solidly installed at the top of the general standings after another excellent stage that he almost won in spite of having had to open the way.

Walkner never gave up against Joan Barreda, who has been head and shoulders above the rest for two days. The Austrian managed to catch his Spanish rival over the last kilometres to grab his second stage victory on the Dakar after the one he won in 2015.

Overall classification after Stage 4:

Quads

In the quad race, Walter Nosiglia finally won his first victory on the Dakar in his home country and not without panache.

Overall classification after Stage 4: