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DAKAR 2018 DAY 10 LIVE - Tuesday 16 January: Salta to Belén, Argentina
Bikes start 14h01 SA time; cars 17h01
Today's stage: 800km, Special: 375km. Altitude 950-3050m ASL
Come back here to follow the action as it unfolds today

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23h55 - Day's Report

DAKAR BEARS ITS TEETH
Crashes, drama and many lost on Day 10
If it had not already delivered an incredible set of twists, turns and controversies so far, Dakar 2018 really showed its fangs on Tuesday to quite literally once again turn the race on its head. The drama started on Monday, when despite the day’s stage being cancelled, there was enough controversy to make world headlines as quad rider Kees Koolen accused race leader of a hit and run accident and the Spaniard was docked 10 minutes for his efforts.

Tuesday's car day started as a straight fight between second and third men Stephane Peterhansel’s Peugeot and Nasser Al Attiyah’s Toyota, although the Frenchman gradually opened the gap on the Qatari to arrive at the neutralisation point 2 minutes 30 ahead. Giniel de Villiers was third for Toyota from race leader Sainz, who’s advantage was down to 45 minutes over Al Attiyah and 50 over Peterhansel, following his penalty and thanks to the sheer pace of the second and third men. De Villiers meanwhile closed right up to fourth overall teammate Bernhard ten Brinke.

Peterhansel duly stormed home to the stage win, but A Attiyah lost half an hour in the stage to let de Villiers grab second from Sainz, A Qassimi\s private Peugeot, Ten Brinke, Despres and the delayed Nasser. That allowed Peterhansel into second overall, 50 minutes behind Sainz with Attiyah third, 22 minutes behind and 10 minutes clear of ten Brinke, but with de Villiers just 33 seconds further back... 

TreasuryOne Amarok rookies Hennie de Klerk and Gerhard Schutte were meanwhile enjoying a productive day at the office and were running 28th at the termination point.

The big drama of the day went down in the bike race where all went smoothly in the run up to a neutralisation point three-quarters of the way into the stage as overnight leader Argentine home hero Kevin Benavides’ Honda led the way, 3 minutes clear of Aussie Toby Price on a KTM. Frenchman Adrien van Beveren, who had started the day 22 seconds off the lead on his Yamaha, clawed back 40 seconds to prune his days deficit to 6 minutes behind Benavides and ahead of KTM men, Matthias Walkner and Anthoine Meo and Joan Barreda on a Honda.

Then the proverbial quite literally hit the fan almost immediately racing resumed as first Benavides, Price and Meo, and then Barreda and top ten runners, teammate Ricky Brabec and Stefan Svitko on a KTM all got horribly ost. Only van Beveren and Walkner found the right road as the rest all lost upwards of 35 minutes to tumble down the order and completely reshuffle what had been a thrillingly close overall motorcycle leaderboard. 

Then just as he was about to ride to a compeling stage win to take the overall lead, van Beveren crashed heavily out of the race just 3km from the finish. So Walkner won the day from local hero Pablo Quintanila, Farres Guell and a gaggle of lesser known riders who had found the right way through the drama to record a long list of Dakar personal best finishes. Barreda came in 14th behind lady rider Lala Sanz and 38 minutes after Walkner, while Benavides was 47 minutes behind, Price 49, Brabec 57 minutes and Meo 1 hour adrift.

After all that Walkner. leads the bikes overall for KTM by 40 minutes over Honda duo Barreda and Benavides and Guell’s KTM, all of whom sit within 10 minutes of each other, with the KTMs of Price and Meo next up. Of the South African riders, David Thomas was lying 64th, Willem du Toit 71st, Donovan van de Langeberg 73rd and Gerry van der Byl 94th on the road.

With Dakar now heading toward the finish in Cordoba on Saturday, Wednesday’s 280km 11th stage from Belén to Chilecito along the Andean escarpment via Fiambalá could be a punishing day if it is anything near as hot as Tuesday’s 43C conditions. That should make the sand soft and the going even tougher. And following today’s dramas, who knows what can still go down — once again proving that Dakar will never be done until that fat lady sings.

23h50 cars - so Peterhansel moves to second, 50 minutes behind Sainz with Attiyah third, 22 minutes behind and 10 minutes clear of ten Brinke, with de Villiers just 33 seconds further back... 

23h45 cars - de Villiers is home second for the day, 8 minutes off eterhansel, but Al Attiyah ost 27 minutes in the last section 

23h43 cars - Ten Brinke comes home to provisionaly take third for the day. But Attiyah is late

23h30 cars - Peterhansel leads home from Sainz and Despres, but where are the Toyotas?

22h00 bikes -Now bike leader van Beveren has fallen heavily 3km from the finish in another cruel Dakar twist. The Frenchman tried to resume racing and manage a few hundred metres, but stopped again in pain...

21h45 bikes Walkner is first home but did not show at the interim waypoint - a timing glitch or did he miss the control? Farres Guell is second home as Barreda comes in 38 minutes behind, Benavides 47,  Price 49, Brabec 57 minutes and  Meo 1 hour adrift.

21h42 bikes price is first of the ost bikes to find his way back - he's lost 50 minutes!

21h40 cars Peterhansel sets off into the final stretch - will the cars find navigation easier without all that mapping this year? Most of the bikes are still MIA....

21h25 bikes - Farres Guell is the only other biker to pass the last waypoint 13 minutes behind van Beverab and the same gap he was behind thw Yamaha in tenth at the previous control. Seems there is chaos out there as most of the bike  frontrunners try find their way back - has today's stage determined the outcome of Dakar 2018 bike race?

21h05 bikes van Beveren passes the final waypoint - now let's see how all this pans out...

20h40 cars The treasuryOne Amarok continues its positive run in 23rd out of the third segment

20h40 bikes David Thomas was 64th, Willem du Toit 71st, Donovan van de Langeberg 73rd and Gerry van der Byl 94th on the road

20h35 bikes Now Svitko, Barreda and Brabec have followed the already lost trio while only Walkner and Adrien Van Beveren have got it right, which is all likely to completely change the overall outlook.

20h16 cars The first cars have passed the neutralization point with Peterhansel up to 2:36 claar fo Attiyah, while Sainz has lost 12 minutes. Sainz led Al Atiyah by 1:01 and Peterhansel by 1:10 two stages ago, but the ap top Attiyah is now 0:46 and Peterhansel 0:50. Is Sainz paying it too safe...?

20h10 bikes The bikes have started their short final run to the finish, but  Benavides,  Price and Meo have taken a wrong turn - could this have a major effect on the day's - and the overall bike results...? The trio have npw wandered 10 km off piste...

19h50 cars Fifth placed overall Giniel de Villiers has meanwhile taken over 12 minutes out of Gazoo teammate ten Brinke so far today to close down to 1 minute 20 seconds off overall as he chases through the 43C heat...

19h45 cars Peterhansel keeps on opening the gap - now its 1:54 over Attiyah with Giniel 5 minutes back and Sains almost 10 minutes off his flying teammate

19h00 cars The TreasuryOne Amarok energes from the first sector in 25th - a solid start to de Kerk and Schutte's day

18h35 cars Attiyah's deficit haemorrhages to 1:18 behind Peterhansel at checkpoint 3 - there is now just six minutes between them overall. De Villiers stays third as he gradually eats into ten Brinke's overall advantage, while Sainz cruises in the overall lead

18h30 bikes: Benavides leads into the mid-stage neutralisation, 3:09 clear of Price as van Beveren claws back 40 seconds to prune his day[s deficit to 6 minutes as Walkner and Meo pass Barreda.

18h25 bikes: South African riders: David Thomas is having a strong run - up to 39th this morning, Willem du Toit 76th,  Donovan van de Langeberg was 77th and Gerrie van der Byl 92nd 

18h15 quads: Sunday's quad winner Simon Vitse has crashed out, injuring his hip. He has been evacuated by the medical team.

18h10 cars: Peterhansel edges away from Attiyah on the stage at the same time as taking 44 seconds back from his rival in the overa standings. De Villiers is third from Qassimi, Sainz and Despres with ten Brinke still slipping back

18h05 bikes: Van Beveren leapfrogs Walkner and Svitko and is closing down Barreda in his chase of Benavides, but the Argentine is opening up the gap on a his pursuers as he revels racing on home soil. Price is still a strong second, but Brabec gets lost a second time

17h35 cars: Peterhansel and Al Attiyah set an identical time over today's first racing segment ahead of Sainz and de Villiers a minute or so adrift; Terranova and Al Qassimi as ten Brinke loses nine minutes and Despres ten minutes as the Peugeot water carrier waited for race-leading teammate Sainz to catch him so the Frenchman can run protection for the Spaniard

17h30 bikes: Meanwhile back out on stage, overall leader Kevin van Beveren is on a charge, opening up a 3 minute lead on Toby Price in second on the road, but more significantly, he's taken over six minutes on  second man overa last night, Adrien van Beveren, who was 20 seconds adrift before the stage. More interesting is that Price, Barreda in third and Walkner in fourth are also taking time out of  van Beverin in the ultra-close overall bike race...

17h00 all: The Koolen Affair seems far from over with Dutch booking.com scion threatening criminal charges following Dakar's fobbing his complaints off and penalising car race leader Carlos Sainz for a Dakar hit and run incident with quad rider Koolen. "if there was a serious penalty for this case, I would be happy," Koolen explained. "But there is not a serious penalty. "I’m a businessman with access to good lawyers, maybe the best lawyers in the world, better than these organisations have themselves and if the organisers do not take their penalties seriously I will take criminal measures when I get home again. "I heard the sentinel, looked around, and at the same moment I go flying in the air - I think I was doing maybe 20km/h, the Peugeot was doing top speed - maybe 180. "It was unbelievable - I was very lucky in the end. He hit the quad - you can see that there was a lot of damage on my quad but he says he didn’t hit me! "I'm an mechanical engineer - the part that was hit and deformed I think you need 1500 kilos, to deform like that, maybe 2000 kilos and I will ask a 3D engineer to calculate it. "But he said nothing happened, he didn't feel it - If the car would hit me 20 centimetres to the left, I would be dead and it would have been a lot easier for Peugeot and Carlos because then I wouldn’t be able to talk anymore."But he did not stop, did not ask afterwards if I was okay, Peugeot didn’t come to me and everybody’s talking in the office behind my back and I wasn’t asked about anything because they have to protect each other. "I have had no apologies, nothing - that is the worst thing - they consciously took very big risks, for danger for the life of people. They don’t help and don’t apologize and I can’t understand that."

16h00 bikes: Benavides leads Meo, Barreda, van Beveren, Walkner, Svitko, Price and Brabec afer the top 8 passed the first waypoint, with Brabec having lost 18 minutes after going the wrong way....

15h50 bikes: Good afternoon Dakar fans! The bike stage is underway with the first few machines already through the first sector where Benavides was on the charge and quickest of the five bike through  so far - 1:15 clear of Meo with Walkner, Svitko and Price another minute or so behind

15h30 bikes: it was an early start for the bikes on the long 424 km link to the start of the first special in Argentina. They set off from the Salta bivouac at 04h30 AM - an early start for what is predicted to be a scorching day.

07h20 cars: The big news from Dakar this Tuesday morning is the controversy surrounding the dominant Peugeot team and a sensational incident where overall leader Carlos Sainz allegedly bumped the quad of booking.com founder Kees Koolen off his machine. Sainz then failed to stop as prescribed in the regulations. Koolen also alleged that Stephane Peterhansel failed to stop to assist as also demanded in the rules. Dakar stewards heard the case and the upshot was Sainz got rapped on the knuckles with a hardly noticeable 10 minute penalty, which has sparked controversy in its lenience despite Sainz and Carlos' insistence of his innocence. Join the discussion and have your say on this on our poll on Motorsport Media's Facebook Chat group here. That hardly made a difference on Sainz' now 56 minute lead over Nasser Al Attiyah in the cars, with Stephane Peterhansel breathing down his neck and the Toyotas of ten Brinke and de Villiers not at all far behind. Follow today's action right here  as it happens from around 2pm SA time...

07h15 bikes: While controversy reigns elsewhere, the Dakar bike race continues to deliver a seismic battle up front with Adrien van Beveren's Yamaha all of 22 seconds clear of Kevin Benavides Honda and the top six of van beveren, Benavides, Matthias Walkner, Toby Price, Joan Barreda and Antoine Meo all within 10 minutes of each other after ten days of racing!

07h10 cars: The past few days have been mysterious and challenging for TreasuryOne racing - read about their Dakar challenges here

07h05 all: With Monday's stage canceled due to adverse weather and flooding, Sunday was the last stage run - get the full report here of perhaps the best all-round day's racing so far this year.

07h00 all: Tuesday’s 800km tenth of 14 Dakar 2018 stages sees teams tackling a 375km racing section from Salta to Belén in Argentina with another tricky dune section vast sandy plateau early on. Follow it live here on TreasuryOne’s Dakar Live Blog from 14h00

ENDS

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