The Frenchman, who is completing his maiden Dakar, has been dominating proceedings with numerous stage wins during the first week of the gruelling rally.

Yesterday, Loeb rolled his car 10 km’s from the finish line, bringing an end to his overall dominance.

The team mechanics replaced two wheels as well as the car’s transmission, seeing Loeb complete the stage, however, in 33rd place 1 hour 8 minutes and 9 seconds behind Qatar’s Nassar Al-Attiyah, who took the stage.

This saw Loeb drop down to 8th, 1 hour 5 minutes and 16 seconds behind his Peugeot teammate and compatriot, Stephane Peterhansel, who is now set to win his 12th Dakar title.

Loeb says it’s all over for him but they are still there to gain experience.

“What happened was that in a rio (river) there was a dip and I didn't see it, so we arrived at it, fell in and it threw the car off balance and we rolled.

“We broke a lot of things on the car. We had to change two wheels and change the transmission so, for sure, we lost a lot of time.

“It's finished for overall victory. I still have to take the experience, we came here to get experience first and foremost.

“Finally, we were leading the first week. Now it's not as nice as we expected.

“It was only ten kilometres from the end of the stage. It's a bit frustrating, but that's life, so we have to continue now.”

Peterhansel says Loeb was competitive during the stage before his crash.

“I don't know what happened because 100 kilometres before the end we overtook him in the off-track part.

“I don't know if he had a problem but he was not really fast. After that, when we started to drive on the tracks again he was faster than me.

“I stopped and he overtook me again… no, no, not again, he overtook me, and after that, 20 kilometres from the end at a large river, with the speed at around 120 km/h, there was a big hole and he crashed into the hole and rolled.

“I don't know how many rolls, but he was okay, he was out of the car and told us it was okay and we could go. We have lost one car, so it's less comfortable than before”.

South Africa’s Leeroy Poulter and Robert Howie remains in 5th overall with Giniel de Villiers in 7th.

Today’s stage starts and finishes in Belén.

Morgan Piek/OFM News

Photo: Sebastien Loeb - www.motorsport.com