By alley - Jan 14, 2016, 4:31 PM ET

DAKAR: Wary Peterhansel retains lead

Stephane Peterhansel maintained a secure Dakar Rally lead with a cautious run through Thursday's La Rioja to San Juan stage, on which Nasser Al-Attiyah was fastest.With the dramas for Peterhansel's Peugeot team-mates Carlos Sainz and Sebastien Loeb earlier in the week handing the event legend a one-hour lead, Peterhansel was content to set a safe pace on stage 11 and was fourth quickest behind Al-Attiyah, Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen, eight minutes off the benchmark.X-raid Mini driver Al-Attiyah's stage win was achieved despite a broken driveshaft, but still leaves him 51 minutes adrift in second overall with just two stages remaining.Loeb is still ninth in the outright standings, despite striking further technical problems late in the stage and needing to be towed to the finish by teammate Cyril Despres.Hirvonen's third place on the stage brought him closer to Toyota driver Giniel de Villiers' outright third position, with the gap between them down to five minutes.

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.