Nani Roma has won the Dakar Rally after an anticlimactic 13th and final stage during which team orders guaranteed the Spaniard would finish first.
Stephane Peterhansel, the Dakar’s record 11-time winner, began the race’s shortest stage with a 26 seconds lead but the Frenchman slowed down and even stopped to let Roma roll first to Valparaiso.
The result ensured teammates Roma, Peterhansel and third-place Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar followed team orders from late Wednesday to freeze their positions to ensure a podium sweep.
Their Minis reached the finish line together and the sweep was achieved.
Another Spaniard, Marc Coma, won the motorcycle race a fourth time, finishing the rally which began in Argentina two weeks ago an hour, 52 minutes ahead of countryman Jordi Viladoms. Olivier Pain of France was third, and two-time defending champion Cyril Despres, the stage winner, fourth.
