Sunderland penalty gifts Cornejo maiden stage win

Sunderland narrowly beat Jose Ignacio Cornejo by just 11 seconds after a strong end to the stage, having made up more than two minutes after the last checkpoint.

But the 2017 champion was found to have gone faster than allowed in a speed limit zone, which is a part of the route where competitors can't go faster than 30km/h.

Sunderland was handed a five-minute penalty, which dropped him to eighth in the order.

Cornejo inherited the top position as a result, the Chilean celebrating his maiden stage victory in his fourth year contesting the marathon.

Kevin Benavides completed a Honda 1-2 in the classification, while erstwhile stage winner Ross Branch (KTM) moved up to third.

In the overall order, Sunderland's penalty has cost him one position as he fell behind Husqvarna's Pablo Quintanilla to sixth place.

Cornejo's win is the second stage victory for Honda, which currently locks out the top three in the overall classification.

Franco Caimi, Yamaha's main rider following Xavier de Soultrait's retirement, was also given a five-minute penalty and dropped from fifth to 11th on the day.

Amended standings after Stage 4 (Bikes, top 10):

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Time/Gap
1	Ricky Brabec	Honda	15h06m43s
2	Kevin Benavides	Honda	2m30s
3	Jose Ignacio Cornejo	Honda	8m31s
4	Toby Price	KTM	12m09s
5	Pablo Quintanilla	Husqvarna	17m52s
6	Sam Sunderland	KTM	19m11s
7	Joan Barreda	Honda	25m20s
8	Luciano Benavides	KTM	26m30s
9	Matthias Walkner	KTM	27m03s
10	Skyler Howes	Husqvarna	34m28s