By alley - Jan 6, 2016, 1:01 PM ET

DAKAR: Peterhansel fastest as Loeb keeps lead

Stephane Peterhansel led a Peugeot lockout of the top three places on stage four of the Dakar Rally, while Sebastien Loeb retained his lead in the overall standings.

Dakar legend Peterhansel made a flying start to the 266-mile Juy Juy stage, passing the first checkpoint more than one minute faster than Loeb and 2015 winner Nasser Al-Attiyah, who were tied on the same time at that point.

While Al-Attiyah's Mini soon fell further adrift, Loeb fought back, getting the gap down to 39 seconds by the third checkpoint, finishing the stage having lost just 27 seconds to his teammate to lead the event by 4m48s.

However, the rally's top two were split by their Peugeot teammate Carlos Sainz, who starred after losing three minutes early in the stage to outpace his fellow World Rally champion by 16 seconds. That put Sainz second on the day, 11 seconds behind Peterhansel, as he continues to fight back from the engine trouble that cost him more than 10 minutes on stage two.

Sainz's performance moved him up to fifth in the overall standings, 13m04s adrift of Loeb.

Al-Attiyah managed to prevent Peugeot's four cars locking out the top of the order by finishing the stage fourth-fastest, nearly five minutes off the pace, edging out the 2008 DKR of Cyril Despres. The Qatari driver currently holds third overall, 11m09s behind Loeb and more than one minute clear of Leeroy Poulter's Toyota in fourth.

Poulter moved up the order by outpacing fellow South African Giniel de Villiers and Loeb's ex-WRC rival Mikko Hirvonen, who both fell down the leaderboard on Wednesday.

De Villiers, who was second overall heading into the stage, lost more than eight minutes to the Peugeots as he slipped to sixth overall, while Hirvonen was 10m17s off the pace, dropping him from fourth to seventh in the standings.

Coverage of the Dakar Rally airs on NBCSN daily at 5:30pm ET:

Date	Coverage	Time (ET)
Mon., January 4	Stage 1 - Rosario to Villa Carlos Paz	5:30 p.m.
Tue., January 5	Stage 2 - Villa Carlos Paz to Termas De Rio Hondo	5:30 p.m.
Wed., January 6	Stage 3 – Termas De Rio Hondo to San Salvador De Jujuy	5:30 p.m.
Thu., January 7	Stage 4 - San Salvador De Jujuy to San Salvador De Jujuy	5:30 p.m.
Fri., January 8	Stage 5 - San Salvador De Jujuy to Uyuni	5:30 p.m.
Sat., January 9	Stage 6 – Uyuni to Uyuni	5:30 p.m.
Sun., January 10	Stage 7 – Uyuni to Salta	6:30 p.m.
Mon., January 11	Rest Day	5:30 p.m.
Tue., January 12	Stage 8 – Salta to Belen	5:30 p.m.
Wed., January 13	Stage 9 – Belen to Belen	5:30 p.m.
Thu., January 14	Stage 10 – Belen to La Rioja	5:30 p.m.
Fri., January 15	Stage 11 – La Rioja to San Juan	5:30 p.m.
Sat., January 16	Stage 12 – San Juan to Villa Carlos Paz	5:30 p.m.
Sun., January 17	Stage 13 – Villa Carlos Paz to Rosario	5 p.m.