Jean-Louis Schlesser of France won the ninth stage of the Dakar Rally on Monday, while Stephane Peterhansel took the overall lead. Schlesser, driving a Schles-Ford-Raid, finished the 307-mile trek from Tichit to Nema in 5 hours, 32 minutes, 3 seconds. He was 13 seconds ahead of defending champion Luc Alphand and 4:14 ahead of Peterhansel, who both drove a Mitsubishi. Giniel de Villiers of South Africa, who won the eighth stage and was the overall leader, had an engine fire a quarter of the way through and was towed to the finish. American Robby Gordon finished 11th and move up to 8th place overall, 6 hours, 20 minutes and 59 seconds behind leader Peterhansel. The 15-stage race ends Sunday in Dakar, Senegal.(FoxSports)(1-16-2007)
