Sainz wins third straight stage at Dakar Rally

COPIAPO, Chile (AP) -- Carlos Sainz of Spain won his third straight stage of the Dakar Rally on Monday after crossing the dunes leading up to the Atacama desert to close in on the overall title.

Sainz finished the ninth stage in 5 hours, 56 minutes, 8 seconds after driving the 279 miles from La Serena to Copiapo in northern Chile. The Spaniard's Volkswagen teammate Mark Miller of the United State was second, 1 minute, 47 seconds behind. Robby Gordon, another American, drove his Hummer to third place, 2:16 back.

"This (stage) was very hard," Sainz said. "There were a lot of stones and difficult navigation. It was really complicated ... Just finishing without problems is a triumph."

It was Sainz's fifth stage victory in this year's race and he extended his overall lead to 19:52 head of Miller with six stages left. Giniel de Villiers of South Africa, who was fifth Monday, is another 3:06 back in third.

Frans Verhoeven of Holland won the stage in the motorbike competition, finishing in 6:26:33, with David Fretigne of France 3:09 back in second. Spain's Marc Coma kept the overall lead after coming in fourth.

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