Nasser Al-Attiyah has extended his overall lead in the Dakar Rally with a stage 10 victory in Argentina on Wednesday.

It was Al-Attiyah’s fourth stage win and he now leads the race by more than 28 minutes from South African Giniel de Villiers with three days remaining.

After crossing the Andes from Calama to Chile, the mammoth 859km stage, 371km timed to Salta, Al-Attiyah looks set to clinch his second Dakar Rally.

In the motorcycle division, Joan Barreda of Spain rode his Honda to a third stage win, with defending champion Marc Coma extending his overall lead to nearly eight minutes.

Spaniard Nani Roma, the defending champion and winner of the ninth stage on Tuesday, was close to abandoning after seriously damaging his Mini at the 193km mark.

Barrada’s chances of overall victory in the motorcycle race were shattered when he lost more than four hours with mechanical problems on the stage to Iquique, Chile, on Monday.

But he had better luck on the run to Salta and crossed the line more than 90sec ahead of KTM’s Coma and nearly two minutes in front of Portugal’s Ruben Faria.

Four-time champion Coma added nearly two minutes to his advantage over his closest rival in the overall standings, Honda rider Paulo Goncalves of Portugal, who only came home fifth on the stage.

Should Spain’s Coma be crowned champion at the end of the race on Saturday in Buenos Aires, it will be the 14th straight triumph for Austrian constructor.