Gordon an impressive third in Dakar's ninth stage

Carlos Sainz now leads the Dakar Rally by nearly 20 minutes following his victory on the ninth stage of the event from La Serena to Copiapo, his third consecutive stage win.

The Spaniard was nearly two minutes quicker than VW team-mate Mark Miller, with Miller moving up to second place overall. NASCAR driver Robby Gordon was third, just two minutes behind Sainz. This is the third stage of the nine run that Gordon has finished third -- his highest finish in a stage this year.

Gordon

Miller lost time when he suffered a broken wheel and damaged suspension keeping him from possibly winning the stage. Miller was able to move ahead of fellow VW man Giniel de Villiers who fell behind after taking a wrong turn early on.

"I've been waiting a year for that stage," Miller said. "We caught up with Carlos [Sainz] after 60 kilometers on the off-road section. We overtook him after around 150 kilometers and things were going quite well. We were back and forth more or less battling.

"In the last off-road section, the track was a bit difficult to find and there were big boulders. I hit a big boulder on the right. I broke the steering, so we had to stop and repair the steering and at the same time fix a wheel that broke.

"Carlos beat us by a bit more than a minute I guess, but it was a great day, a really, really fun day," Miller added. "I had a smile on my face from the start until the finish. I gave it everything [Monday], because I thought I could pull back six or seven minutes, but we were just really unlucky. [Tuesday] it should be fantastic again, and I'm really looking forward to it."

Gordon remains fifth in the overall standings as the top-six drivers were unchanged after Stage 9.

Dutchman Frans Verhoeven won the motorbike stage while Spain's Marc Coma stayed more than one hour clear in the overall standings after finishing fourth.

The Dakar Rally is being broadcast on Versus, with daily updates on RobbyGordon.com.

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• Gordon eighth in Dakar's eighth stage, remains fifth