Our 2017 Dakar coverage continues! Racers set up in Tupiza, Bolivia for the fifth stage and headed 692 kilometers (730 miles) through the Bolivian Altiplano on to Oruro, Bolivia. The two main sections of this stage consist of mountainous sand dunes, which ended up causing serious navigational issues for many racers. The entirety of stage five was shorted 219 kilometers (136 miles) due to extreme weather conditions.

After his stage four roll and tumble down the hill, Carlos Sainz has officially bowed out of the Dakar race. This is the fifth time he has had to exit a Dakar race prior to the finish. Cyril Despres intended to press on and continue his lead from stage four but ultimately dropped back a few slots. Sébastien Loeb and Stéphane Peterhansel over took him in both the stage four rankings as well as the general standings.

Photo DPPI

Loeb ran a clean race and took the opportunity to open up large gaps between him and the racers behind him. As a result, he grabbed first place for the second time in the 2017 Dakar. His victory was close as Nani Roma was only forty-four seconds behind him, taking second place in his Toyota Hilux. Peterhansel was a short fifty seconds behind Roma. The largest gap in the stage five race was that between third and fourth place. Despres was over ten minutes behind Loeb in the race. Romain Dumas was hot on the tail of Despres and rounded out the top five finishers of the day.

Peugeot had a wonderful stage by having their team take up four out of the top five slots. The finishes of the stage also gave Peugeot the top three slots in the general standings.

Hang in there, we’ve still got more Dakar to cover!