Tiainen pays the price

Roddy Brooks,The Dakar Rally
Wednesday 09 January 2002 20:00 EST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Kari Tiainen saw his Dakar Rally hopes end yesterday when he crashed on the 12th stage and suffered a broken forearm. The Finn also suffered a suspected fractured collarbone when he crashed in the Mauritanian desert between Tidjkja and Tichit.

The KTM motorcyclist was behind the leaders in the overall standings after suffering wheel problems earlier in the 24th running of the rally.

The South African Alfie Cox, who had his first win in the loop stage around Atar, won his second stage in a time of six hours 30 minutes.

Juan Roma was 40 seconds behind and the motorcycle category leader, Italy's Fabrizio Meoni, made it a KTM one-two-three, finishing just over one minute behind Cox.

Britain's Dave Hammond improved his overall standing to 15th after taking his Husaberg to 17th on the day, 96 minutes behind Cox on arrival at Tichit.

Cox said: "Up until the refuel point it was fast, but for the last 75 kilometres I really pushed."

The Frenchman Jean-Pierre Fontenay led home three other Mitsubishis as he took the 538km-stage car category win.

Germany's Jutta Kleinschmidt, last year's winner, moved up to second overall with second place on the stage to Fontenay, but the race leader, Hiroshi Masuoka from Japan, finished the day in third, keeping him at the top of the overall standings ahead of Kleinschmidt.

The Toyota mechanic Daniel Vergnes was killed when his support vehicle crashed. Three team-mates – Britain's Sheona Dorson-King, Belgium's Christophe Van Riet and France's Benont Agoyer – were flown to a hospital in Nouakchott.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in