Holowczyc wins 5th stage of Dakar Rally

Krzysztof Holowczyc of Poland won the fifth stage of the Dakar Rally on Thursday and moved to second overall to leader Stephane Peterhansel of France.A day after losing the overall lead to Peterhansel, Holowczyc stayed in contention by navigating the white dunes around Fiambala in style for his first Dakar stage victory.Peterhansel was third, with the chance of an all-Mini podium broken by American Robby Gordon, who got his Hummer to within almost a minute of Holowczyc for second.Overall, Minis held the top three spots. Peterhansel was 4:18 ahead of Holowczyc and 10:39 in front of Spanish driver Joan Roma. Gordon was fourth, 13:32 behind.In motorcycling, Cyril Despres of France won the stage and extended his overall lead from defending champion Marc Coma of Spain back to almost 10 minutes.The fifth stage from Chilecito to Fiambala marked the last full day in Argentina with the race moving to Chile and on to the finish line in Lima, Peru, on Jan. 15.Heavy rain in the region forced organizers to shorten Thursday routes by 24 kilometers for the cars and 80 kilometers for the bikes.Defending champ Nasser Al-Attiyah impressed again in his Hummer, but like on Wednesday, he ran into trouble soon after passing through the second checkpoint with the fastest time. This time his radiator overheated, he lost more than 20 minutes, and dropped to 50 minutes off the pace.Orlando Terranova of Argentina, second in Wednesdays stage, didnt start after falling out with his co-pilot Andy Grider.Despres won the bikes stage by 1:14 from Coma to virtually earn back the time he conceded on Wednesday. Joan Barreda Bort of Spain was third.Despres leads Coma by 9:51 in the overall, and is a whopping 47:56 in front of No. 3 Helder Rodrigues of Portugal.Organizers did not report major accidents on the fifth stage.Three people have died over the first few days of the rally, considered one of the most dangerous events in motor sports.Argentine bike rider Jorge Martinez Boero died in a crash in Sundays first stage. On the same day, the pilot of an ultralight plane and his son died when the aircraft went down while following the race.