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Dakar ends in the dunes for Villas-Boas

Dakar Rally - 2018 Peru-Bolivia-Argentina Dakar rally - 40th Dakar Edition - January 5, 2018 - Toyota Gazoo Racing SA team drivers Giniel de Villiers, Bernhard Ten Brinke and Nasser Al-Attiyah pose for a team picture participate alongside soccer head coach Andre Villas-Boas at Las Palmas air base in Lima. REUTERS/Andres Stapff

(Reuters) - Portuguese soccer manager Andre Villas-Boas has withdrawn from the Dakar Rally after he injured his back in the Peruvian desert. The former Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea manager, who left Chinese side Shanghai SIPG in November, had entered the 40th edition of the endurance event to mark his 40th birthday. "We jumped off a dune and crashed the car nose first. The Dakar unfortunately is finished for us," he said on Instagram. "Better luck next time." Villas-Boas had been driving a Toyota and was running two hours and 18 minutes behind the leader, Stephane Peterhansel of France. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Ed Osmond)