Peterhansel's day as riders mourn
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-01-11 09:33

Paris, France (Reuters) -- Champion Stephane Peterhansel stretched his overall lead in the race for cars to 40 minutes four seconds in the Dakar Rally on Tuesday.

Organisers scrubbed the stage for bike riders after Australian Andy Caldecott was killed in a crash on Monday.

Competitors held a minute's silence after the morning briefing in Kiffa, Mauritania, in memory of the 41-year-old KTM rider.

While the bike riders treated the day as a non-competitive liaison, the 333km 10th stage to Kayes in Mali went ahead as normal for the car drivers.

Spaniard Carlos Sainz clocked the fastest time of the day. The Volkswagen driver clinched his fourth stage win of the race when he beat compatriot Nani Roma (Mitsubishi) by four minutes eight seconds.

Frenchman Peterhansel, driving a Mitsubishi, was in third place four minutes 58 seconds adrift.

He was followed by two Volkswagen drivers, Mark Miller of the United States and Jutta Kleinschmidt of Germany.

Luc Alphand finished almost 36 minutes behind Sainz in 15th position after hitting a tree and stopping for repairs. But the Frenchman stayed second overall.

Spaniard Marc Coma leads the bike race ahead of KTM team mate and title holder Cyril Despres of France.

Caldecott fell and suffered a fatal neck injury after 250km of the 599km ninth stage.

He was an experienced desert rider. A four-times winner of the Australia Safari, he was competing in his third Dakar and had won the third stage of this year's race.

Wednesday's 11th stage will take competitors to Bamako through 705km of forests and savannas.