Joan Barreda of Spain rides his Honda during the First stage from Asuncion, Paraguay to Resistencia, Argentina in the 39th Dakar Rally Edition on Thursday .
Tupiza, Bolivia: Spanish Honda rider Joan Barreda has lost the lead of the Dakar Rally motorcycle category after picking up an hour penalty for illegal refuelling, organisers said yesterday. Chilean Pablo Quintanilla of Husqvarna is the new race leader after 33-year-old Barreda was penalised after he refuelled in an unauthorised area.
Barreda, who dominated the third stage from San Miguel de Tucuman to San Salvador de Jujuy in the north of Argentina, has been demoted to seventh position overall, 41 minutes behind Quintanilla.
Three other Honda riders -- France's Michael Metge, American Ricky Brabec and Portugal's Paulo Goncalves -- were also slapped with the same penalty for illegal refuelling during Thursday's fourth stage.
The penalties are a blow for the Japanese team's bid to take the title from Austrian rivals KTM, unbeaten in the Dakar since 2002.
KTM however have been hit hard as defending motorcycle champion Toby Price of Australia was forced to retire on Thursday after breaking his left leg in a fall.
Friday's fifth stage is over 692km from Tupiza to Oruro in Bolivia.
Dakar Rally: Crash forces Sainz to withdraw
Former winner and leading contender Carlos Sainz has withdrawn from the Dakar Rally after rolling his Peugeot into a ravine on Thursday's fourth stage in Bolivia, his team said.
Spain's twice world rally champion, whose son and namesake races in Formula One, had feared after reaching the overnight bivouac in Tupiza that his car was too badly damaged to be repaired.
Peugeot confirmed that mechanics would be unable to complete the job in the allotted time.
"It is obviously devastating to have to retire. We had been running at a good pace since the start of the rally," said Sainz, who had been in second place overall at the start of the stage, in a statement.
This year's Dakar, one of the world's toughest endurance challenges which ends in Buenos Aires on January 14 after stages in Paraguay and Bolivia, has seen a spate of high-profile retirements already. Twice winner Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar retired after ripping a wheel off his Toyota in the third stage while reigning motorcycle champion Toby Price of Australia was flown to hospital on Thursday with a broken leg.
