Dakar first stage cancelled due to rain

The opening stage of the Dakar Rally in Argentina was cancelled due to bad weather on Sunday, a day after the prologue had to be abandoned when a car crashed into the crowd and injured eight spectators. Race director Etienne Lavigne said helicopters needed to guarantee the safety of participants had been unable to fly due to thunderstorms that broke over the stage from Rosario to Villa Carlos Paz. The annual Dakar Rally, which started out as a gruelling endurance race from Paris across the Sahar