- CHILECITO, Argentina: Marc Coma in bikes and Nasser Al-Attiyah in cars built up hefty leads after Wednesday's 10th stage of the Dakar Rally to close in on the overall victory as the race returned to Argentina ahead of the finish on Sunday in Buenos Aires.
The stage crossed a 4,000-meter (13,000-feet) pass in the Andes, with Coma winning the bikes category in 3 hours, 6 minutes, 35 seconds.
Coma won the race in 2009 and leads Cyril Despres in the overall standings by 18:10 minutes, with Chilean rider Francisco Lopez Contardo trailing by 45:16 in third.
Al-Attiyah finished fourth in Wednesday's stage, 8:54 behind winner Giniel de Villiers. But defending champion Carlos Sainz was 18:13 off the lead in fifth, which gives Al-Attiyah a lead of 12:37 in the overall standings.
