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Sainz extends overall Dakar lead

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TAN-TAN, Morocco -- Spain's Carlos Sainz extended his overall lead in the Dakar Rally on Wednesday after winning the winding fifth stage through the desert from Oaurzazate to Tan-Tan in Morocco.

The double world rally champion, a Dakar debutant last year, now leads Volkswagen team-mate Giniel de Villiers of South Africa by three minutes and 36 seconds.

Defending champion Luc Alphand was in fifth place for Mitsubishi.

In the motorcycle category, a day after the death of South African rider Elmer Symons, Spaniard Marc Coma saw his lead trimmed slightly by Isidre Esteve after riding with his compatriot for most of the stage.

Esteve, one of seven leading riders on KTM machines, won his first stage of the event to claw back nearly two minutes. Coma leads by nine minutes and 56 seconds.

The rally, which ends in the Senegalese capital on January 21, enters Mauritania on Thursday after a drive across the Western Sahara.

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