Lithuanian Vaidotas Zala finished second in the 9th stage (3 min 7 sec) and Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit third (4 min 18 sec), offering an exclusively Prodrive podium.

Probably deprived of final victory because of his consequent delay (1h 40 min) on the leader, Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota), Loeb, with the 19th victory of his career on the Dakar, temporarily fulfilled part of his contract: gain an additional stage victory after his successes on the 4th and 8th days to collect points for the world championship, and to return to the podium.

As he had announced, the Alsatian attacked and opened the track with Al-Attiyah before distancing the Qatari, four-time winner of the event, by 11 min and 8 sec.

With his co-driver Fabian Lurquin, Loeb is only 19 minutes behind the second, the Brazilian Lucas Moraes (Toyota), 25, performing well for his first Dakar.

"We attacked a lot, the navigation was complicated in places, it was hard for everyone," reacted the nine-time world rally champion.

Once past the dunes at the start, he added, "it was mostly fast tracks, so it was important to stay on the right course and not make mistakes."

Henk Lategan meanwhile gave up his second place in the general classification after losing 40 minutes due to a mechanical problem.

The other fact of the day is the death, announced in the evening by ASO, of a spectator of Italian origin hit by a competitor while he "was behind a dune".

"The victim, evacuated by helicopter by medical assistance, died during his transfer," said ASO.

The organizers indicated that the competitor who hit him did not notice the shock and only learned of the tourist's death when he returned to the bivouac.

This eventful day was also marked by the abandonment of the Spaniard Carlos Sainz, seen sitting in the sand next to his Audi hybrid which was badly damaged after several rolls.

Carlos Sainz after his accident on January 10, 2023 during the 9th stage of the Dakar rally.

After hoping for a while to be able to continue the race, the Spanish driver ended up giving up © FRANCK FIFE / AFP/Archives

At first, the organizers announced the abandonment of the triple winner of the event, aged 60, before specifying a few minutes later that the Madrid pilot had finally asked the medical helicopter en route to the hospital. to turn around.

He was escorted back to his car, where his assistance joined him to allow him to return to the camp.

But in the evening, noting the extent of the damage, Sainz had no choice but to endorse his abandonment on Twitter.

Van Beveren and Barreda Falls

In the motorcycle category, Argentinian Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna) snatched his second stage victory on Tuesday during the 45th edition of the famous rally-raid.

Leaving at dawn in the coolness of the desert and on wet sand, the youngest of the Benavides brothers, 27, crossed the finish line after 358 km of special (the timed part of the stage) with 1 minute and 2 seconds ahead of Australian Toby Price (KTM) and 2 minutes and 57 seconds over American Skyler Howes (Husqvarna).

Howes therefore remains for the fifth consecutive day at the head of the provisional general classification but Price, who was almost two minutes behind on Tuesday morning, now points to 3 small seconds.

The American Skyler Howes took 3rd place in the 9th stage of the Dakar run on January 10, 2023 between Ryad and Harad.

Overall, he is only three seconds ahead of Australian Toby Price © FRANCK FIFE / AFP/Archives

Kevin Benavides and his KTM are 3rd (5 min 9 sec), and Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren (Honda), who was only 2 min and 49 sec from the leader at the start, now finds himself 15 min and 40 dry, after a "difficult day with tracks that are not very visible and erased by the rain", says the Northerner who fell 20 km before the finish, hit according to him by the young American Mason Klein.

The Spanish biker Joan Barreda (Honda) for his part retired after a fall at the level of km 16, on receiving a jump at the bottom of a dune.

He was airlifted and suffered from back pain, organizers said.

The Dakar 2023 rally started on December 31 on the shores of the Red Sea for more than 8,000 km of racing in the Saudi kingdom and an arrival on January 15 in Dammam.

© 2023 AFP