US Driver Guthrie Leads Dakar in Saudi Arabia After Stage Three Sweep for Ford

Rallying - Dakar Rally - Stage 2 - Yanbu to AlUla - Yanbu, Saudi Arabia - January 5, 2026 General view of Ford Racing's Mitch Guthrie and Kellon Walch in action during stage 2. (Reuters)
Rallying - Dakar Rally - Stage 2 - Yanbu to AlUla - Yanbu, Saudi Arabia - January 5, 2026 General view of Ford Racing's Mitch Guthrie and Kellon Walch in action during stage 2. (Reuters)
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US Driver Guthrie Leads Dakar in Saudi Arabia After Stage Three Sweep for Ford

Rallying - Dakar Rally - Stage 2 - Yanbu to AlUla - Yanbu, Saudi Arabia - January 5, 2026 General view of Ford Racing's Mitch Guthrie and Kellon Walch in action during stage 2. (Reuters)
Rallying - Dakar Rally - Stage 2 - Yanbu to AlUla - Yanbu, Saudi Arabia - January 5, 2026 General view of Ford Racing's Mitch Guthrie and Kellon Walch in action during stage 2. (Reuters)

Ford Raptors filled the top five places in the Dakar Rally as American Mitch Guthrie Jr won the third 421km stage in Saudi Arabia, his first victory in the top car category, and took the overall lead on Tuesday.

Guthrie ended the loop starting and finishing in AlUla with a 26 second overall lead over Czech driver Martin Prokop with Sweden's Mattias Ekstrom third.

"We started at the back and (co-driver) Kellon (Walch) killed it with the navigation," said Guthrie.

"There were a lot of tricky spots, but we ‌had no flat ‌tires. The car was great so ‌we ⁠just kept ‌moving all day, really."

Spaniard Carlos Sainz, a four-times Dakar winner still competing at 63, was in fourth place overall and compatriot Nani Roma fifth.

Brazilian Lucas Moraes was sixth with Dacia Sandrider teammates Cristina Gutierrez, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Sebastien Loeb seventh, 10th and 12th respectively.

Five-times winner Al-Attiyah had led the standings after Monday's ⁠stage but dropped to 11 minutes and 39 seconds off the pace.

Al-Attiyah, ‌who suffered two punctures, was the only ‍driver of Monday's leading six ‍to remain in the top 10. Toyota had filled ‍the top five places in Monday's stage.

Nine-times world rally champion Loeb also lost time with two punctures in the first 100km and no further spare tire after that.

"We’re driving at about 20% of our capacity just to avoid punctures and we still get them," said the Frenchman.

"You don’t see the ⁠punctures coming and with two flat tires and 300 km to go, I had no spare wheels left so we drove the rest of the stage at crawling pace.

"I’m just happy to be at the finish because at one point I really didn’t think we were going to make it".

In the motorcycle category, Spain's Tosha Schareina won the stage for Honda with Australia's defending champion Daniel Sanders retaining the overall lead on a KTM, one minute and seven seconds ahead of ‌Honda's Ricky Brabec.

Wednesday's fourth stage is 417km from AlUla with an overnight bivouac in the desert.



Hospital: Vonn Had Surgery on Broken Leg from Olympics Crash

This handout video grab from IOC/OBS shows US Lindsey Vonn crashing during the women's downhill event at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games on February 8, 2026. (Photo by Handout / various sources / AFP)
This handout video grab from IOC/OBS shows US Lindsey Vonn crashing during the women's downhill event at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games on February 8, 2026. (Photo by Handout / various sources / AFP)
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Hospital: Vonn Had Surgery on Broken Leg from Olympics Crash

This handout video grab from IOC/OBS shows US Lindsey Vonn crashing during the women's downhill event at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games on February 8, 2026. (Photo by Handout / various sources / AFP)
This handout video grab from IOC/OBS shows US Lindsey Vonn crashing during the women's downhill event at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games on February 8, 2026. (Photo by Handout / various sources / AFP)

Lindsey Vonn had surgery on a fracture of her left leg following the American's heavy fall in the Winter Olympics downhill, the hospital said in a statement given to Italian media on Sunday.

"In the afternoon, (Vonn) underwent orthopedic surgery to stabilize a fracture of the left leg," the Ca' Foncello hospital in Treviso said.

Vonn, 41, was flown to Treviso after she was strapped into a medical stretcher and winched off the sunlit Olimpia delle Tofane piste in Cortina d'Ampezzo.

Vonn, whose battle to reach the start line despite the serious injury to her left knee dominated the opening days of the Milano Cortina Olympics, saw her unlikely quest halted in screaming agony on the snow.

Wearing bib number 13 and with a brace on the left knee she ⁠injured in a crash at Crans Montana on January 30, Vonn looked pumped up at the start gate.

She tapped her ski poles before setting off in typically aggressive fashion down one of her favorite pistes on a mountain that has rewarded her in the past.

The 2010 gold medalist, the second most successful female World Cup skier of all time with 84 wins, appeared to clip the fourth gate with her shoulder, losing control and being launched into the air.

She then barreled off the course at high speed before coming to rest in a crumpled heap.

Vonn could be heard screaming on television coverage as fans and teammates gasped in horror before a shocked hush fell on the packed finish area.

She was quickly surrounded by several medics and officials before a yellow Falco 2 ⁠Alpine rescue helicopter arrived and winched her away on an orange stretcher.


Meloni Condemns 'Enemies of Italy' after Clashes in Olympics Host City Milan

Demonstrators hold smoke flares during a protest against the environmental, economic and social impact of the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, February 7, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Coombs
Demonstrators hold smoke flares during a protest against the environmental, economic and social impact of the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, February 7, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Coombs
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Meloni Condemns 'Enemies of Italy' after Clashes in Olympics Host City Milan

Demonstrators hold smoke flares during a protest against the environmental, economic and social impact of the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, February 7, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Coombs
Demonstrators hold smoke flares during a protest against the environmental, economic and social impact of the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, February 7, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Coombs

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has condemned anti-Olympics protesters as "enemies of Italy" after violence on the fringes of a demonstration in Milan on Saturday night and sabotage attacks on the national rail network.

The incidents happened on the first full day of competition in the Winter Games that Milan, Italy's financial capital, is hosting with the Alpine town of Cortina d'Ampezzo.

Meloni praised the thousands of Italians who she said were working to make the Games run smoothly and present a positive face of Italy.

"Then ⁠there are those who are enemies of Italy and Italians, demonstrating 'against the Olympics' and ensuring that these images are broadcast on television screens around the world. After others cut the railway cables to prevent trains from departing," she wrote on Instagram on Sunday.

A group of around 100 protesters ⁠threw firecrackers, smoke bombs and bottles at police after breaking away from the main body of a demonstration in Milan.

An estimated 10,000 people had taken to the city's streets in a protest over housing costs and environmental concerns linked to the Games.

Police used water cannon to restore order and detained six people.

Also on Saturday, authorities said saboteurs had damaged rail infrastructure near the northern Italian city of Bologna, disrupting train journeys.

Police reported three separate ⁠incidents at different locations, which caused delays of up to 2-1/2 hours for high-speed, Intercity and regional services.

No one has claimed responsibility for the damage.

"Once again, solidarity with the police, the city of Milan, and all those who will see their work undermined by these gangs of criminals," added Meloni, who heads a right-wing coalition.

The Italian police have been given new arrest powers after violence last weekend at a protest by the hard-left in the city of Turin, in which more than 100 police officers were injured.


Liverpool New Signing Jacquet Suffers 'Serious' Injury

Soccer Football - Ligue 1 - RC Lens v Stade Rennes - Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens, France - February 7, 2026  Stade Rennes' Jeremy Jacquet in action REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
Soccer Football - Ligue 1 - RC Lens v Stade Rennes - Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens, France - February 7, 2026 Stade Rennes' Jeremy Jacquet in action REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
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Liverpool New Signing Jacquet Suffers 'Serious' Injury

Soccer Football - Ligue 1 - RC Lens v Stade Rennes - Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens, France - February 7, 2026  Stade Rennes' Jeremy Jacquet in action REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
Soccer Football - Ligue 1 - RC Lens v Stade Rennes - Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens, France - February 7, 2026 Stade Rennes' Jeremy Jacquet in action REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

Liverpool's new signing Jeremy Jacquet suffered a "serious" shoulder injury while playing for Rennes in their 3-1 Ligue 1 defeat at RC Lens on Saturday, casting doubt over the defender’s availability ahead of his summer move to Anfield.

Jacquet fell awkwardly in the second half of the ⁠French league match and appeared in agony as he left the pitch.

"For Jeremy, it's his shoulder, and for Abdelhamid (Ait Boudlal, another Rennes player injured in the ⁠same match) it's muscular," Rennes head coach Habib Beye told reporters after the match.

"We'll have time to see, but it's definitely quite serious for both of them."
Liverpool agreed a 60-million-pound ($80-million) deal for Jacquet on Monday, but the 20-year-old defender will stay with ⁠the French club until the end of the season.

Liverpool, provisionally sixth in the Premier League table, will face Manchester City on Sunday with four defenders - Giovanni Leoni, Joe Gomez, Jeremie Frimpong and Conor Bradley - sidelined due to injuries.