Rallying: Despres on verge of the fifth Dakar title
Cyril Despres is on verge of Dakar Rally title after finishing 2nd in penultimate stage.
France s Cyril Despres virtually wrapped up a fifth Dakar Rally motorcycling title on Friday when he finished second on the penultimate stage to open an overall lead of over eight minutes.
The 38-year-old, the champion in 2005, 2007, 2010 and 2012, was 5min 25sec behind Chile s Francisco Lopez.
But with KTM teammate, and overnight title rival, Ruben Faria slipping into third in the standings, Despres will go into Saturday s final dash into Santiago with an 8min 15sec overall lead over Lopez.
For Honda rider Lopez, it was a fourth stage win on the 2013 race and 10th of his career.
