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The Gap Widens
Thursday, May 4, 2000

On the fifth day of the race, the gap has widened between the leading teams and the remainder of the group. Three teams have taken command of this 10th edition of the Raid Gauloises. They are teams Salomon/Land Rover, Nokia Adventure and Ertips/Salomon. They are all within a little over an hour of each other.

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Until late in the evening, the suspense was at its peak. Was the American team Salomon Land Rover going to reach CP27 at the village of Bahunchera before 19:00 in order to continue its progress towards HQ3 (CP29) and the start of the canoeing event? In the nick of time, the team finally crossed the checkpoint at 18:59 and reached HQ3 (CP29) in Manthali just after 22:30 local time.

One hour later, Salomon Land Rover was joined by Finnish team Nokia Adventure, then, later in the night, a little after 02:00, by the French team Ertips Solomon. This morning, these three teams started the canoeing section together, more than three hours ahead of their closest rivals. This evening, the American team Salomon/Land Rover could increase its lead over the Finns and the French. The two teams are tired. They have suffered a lot today from the heat of the scorching sun.

Today's withdrawals and non-runners :
Only one withdrawal to announce for today, Thursday. It relates to one of the competitors of team Endeavour, who dislocated his shoulder during the canoeing event. The team, now reduced to four members, was removed from the ranking. In addition, the jury decided to annul the one-hour penalty which had been imposed on team Ertips/Salomon France for non-conformity of equipment—a missing tent. This evening, 49 ranked teams remain in the race.

— Provided by Raid Gauloises

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