Stéphane Peterhansel won the seventh stage of the Dakar followed by Sebastien Loeb and Giniel De Villiers
After the cancellation of the stage 6 that preceded the day of rest, the direction of the race has been forced to change the route of the stage 7 between La Paz and Uyuni. This new travel unpublished mixed stages of 6 and 7. The ground was mainly sandy and the distance of the special was of 161 kilometers. Preceded by a link of 400 km, followed by a second link of 240 km
Second week of the rally and we arrived with the beginning of the marathon stage. The drivers are well aware of the “cuartel de Uyuni”, which this year will be transformed into bivouac during a day.
Loeb opening track, the french followed near by Roma and Peterhansel. “Messier Dakar” began to squeeze the Peugeot and put pressure on their rivals leaving Loeb more than a minute and Roma to almost 4 minutes during the first 100 km of the stage. On the other hand, Cyril Despres cannot go fast after having lost the first position in the 5th stage.
Mikko Hirvonen and Giniel De Villiers came on the scene with a few minutes of the leader.
Finally Peterhansel won the stage and was a leader in the overall ahead of Loeb to a 1’57, Roma to 11′, Despres to 14’01 and closing the top 5 Hirvonen to 47’24.