Aussie Sanders leads Dakar despite speed penalty blows

Daniel Sanders is half-way to achieving his dream of being only the second Australian to triumph at the Dakar Rally, but the motorcyclist will go into the great race's rest day with a reduced lead after being hit with penalties for speed-limit violations.

The 428km fifth stage between Al'Ula and rocky Ha'il had looked to have been a huge success for the 30-year-old on Thursday when he made light of the disadvantage of leading off the stage by actually increasing his lead over his nearest pursuers to over quarter-of-an-hour.

But Yarra Valley's 'Chucky' later had more than half of his advantage wiped out when it was ruled his Red Bull KTM had exceeded specified speed limits on the route three times, leaving him whacked with an eight-minute penalty.