Originally Posted by
gorganl2000
may be you are correct
however, i can sympathize with the desire to push for the win in this case as this is now his 4th attempt at the annual event and he already has a prior 2nd place. From the early technical glitch he was over 30 mins off the lead by stage 3. There are always risks in pushing so hard; sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn't. Dakar is a long rally and anything can happen to any competitor at any time and he needed to be in a position to capitalize on that opportunity if it arose---in this case, being in 2nd place and as close to N. Al-Attiyah as possible.
plus it makes the rally more exciting too