Spanish motorcyclist Isidre Esteve Pujol and his car-driving compatriot Carlos Sainz came out on top in Thursday's 257km 12th stage of the Dakar rally between Ayoun El Atrous in Mauratania and Kayes in Mali.

For Sainz this was a third stage win in this year's race, but the former world champion still has plenty of work to do in the overall standings where this win left him ninth behind France's Stephane Peterhansel, the race leader.

"It was a difficult stage both in terms of driving and in terms of navigation," admitted Saiinz.

"It was also a fast one from the start. The car was hit a bit because there were quite a lot of tricky paths between trees.

"Today's victory is particularly important because the Volkswagen team was a bit down after all that happened. By winning, we showed again that we are competitive and that the work done was useful.

"It showed to the outside world that the team, the car and the organization are great performers. Our mechanical problems were like a rude awakening and during trials nothing had led us to thinking it might actually happen. I had come to win. Now I will keep fighting for stage victories."

Sainz, who is over seven hours behind Peterhansel, was a previous overall leader of the race, as was his South African Volkswagen teammate Giniel De Villiers.

But both men suffered serious mechanical difficulties earlier in the week which knocked them out of contention. De Villiers is 8hr 45:47min off the pace and lies in 12th place overall.

Former world ski champion, and Dakar title holder, Luc Alphand came in third in the stage to cut his deficit in the standings on his Mitsubishi teammate Peterhansel to six and a half minutes.

(China Daily via AFP January 20, 2007)