STAGE 4 - RACE TO THE FRONT: RACHID EL MORABITY CONSOLIDATES SECOND PLACE

38th MARATHON DES SABLES LEGENDARY

After a joint race by the three leaders of the 38th MARATHON DES SABLES LEGENDARY, Rachid EL MORABITY broke away to win in 3h13'24'', consolidating his second place overall.

After Mohamed ELMORABITY's (D1-MAR) dazzling performance on the long stage the day before yesterday, he is assured of overall victory, barring any race incidents. On the other hand, second place was held to just one second this morning before the start, between Rachid EL MORABITY (D3-MAR) and Aziz YACHOU (D10-MAR). The 43.1km marathon stage was the deciding factor between the two men.

RACHID WITH TALENT

It was Hamid YACHOU (D11-MAR), Aziz's brother, who took the lead early in the morning at 14 km/h. The aim of this breakaway was to make up the 10 seconds separating him from Yohann STUCK (D851-FRA) in the overall classification, and to open up as big a gap as possible. The goal: fourth place overall.

Caught by the EL MORABITY brothers after the first sandy section, he let them take the lead, and also saw his brother pass him. The EL MORABITY brothers controlled Aziz's comeback on the very sandy central section, before Rachid broke away for good shortly after the thirtieth kilometre. In the end, Rachid crossed the finish line in 3:13:24, 1 minute 35 seconds ahead of Mohamed and Aziz. Rachid thus consolidated his second place, and after checking the bags of the first three runners, he said without appeal: "It's all over now".

YOHANN VERY SOLID

As for the duel between Hamid and Yohann, despite the Moroccan's hot start, it was the Frenchman who came out on top today: "For the moment I'm keeping my4th place, but he's still going very fast. I think he wanted to get a comfortable lead, I could see him in the distance, I caught up with him quite quickly, and as soon as I caught up with him he put his foot down and I managed to follow. It's a good thing he was there because things were coming back hard behind. Tomorrow's going to be very tough, and the day after tomorrow even tougher. I know that he has a record of 1h04' in a half marathon.

CLASSIFICATION STAGE 4

CLT	BIB	RUNNER	TEAM	NAT	TIME
3	3	Rachid EL MORABITY	TGCC	MAR	3:13:24
1	1	Mohamed EL MORABITY	TGCC	MAR	3:14:59
2	10	Aziz YACHOU	SOFAC	MAR	3:14:59
4	851	Yohann STUCK		FRA	3:43:10
5	11	Hamid YACHOU	SOFAC	MAR	3:43:11

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 4

CLT	BIB	RUNNER	TEAM	NAT	TIME
1	1	Mohamed EL MORABITY	TGCC	MAR	16:15:33
2	3	Rachid EL MORABITY	TGCC	MAR	17:08:31
3	10	Aziz YACHOU	SOFAC	MAR	17:10:07
4	851	Yohann STUCK		FRA	18:58:16
5	11	Hamid YACHOU	SOFAC	MAR	18:58:27