Attiyah of Qatar claimed his first Dakar Rally title and Spanish rider Marc Coma won the race for the third time on his motorbike as the two-week trek wrapped up Saturday. Al-Attiyah finished second in the 13th and final stage as Volkswagen swept the podium. “We did it,” Al-Attiyah said. “I am so happy.” Carlos Sainz of Spain, the 2010 champion, won the stage by 38 seconds from Al-Attiyah to hold onto third overall. South African Giniel de Villiers was second overall, 49 minutes, 41 seconds behind Al-Attiyah. Sainz finished 1:20:38 back. In bikes, Coma was fifth in the final stage, 2:16 behind winner Frans Verhoven of Belgium. Coma on a KTM finished 15:04 ahead of Cyril Despres in the overall. Helder Rodrigues of Portugal was third, 1:40:20 back. Al-Attiyah, who was second last year to Sainz, called the victory “the biggest moment of my career” and said would it help put Qatar on the map. In fact, Qatar made bigger news last month when it was awarded football's 2022 World Cup. “It means a lot to win a Dakar, for me, for my people, for my country and for my team,” he said. In quads, Argentine Alejandro Patronelli was the overall winner. He finished 59:53 ahead of fellow Argentine Sebastian Halpern and 6:17:38 in front of Lukasz Laskawiec of Poland. Last year Patronelli's brother Marcos won the overall title. Official awards will be presented Sunday in Buenos Aires, which is located about 200 km from Saturday's finish. The rally left the Argentine capital on Jan. 1.
