The Lantosque/Lucéram stage was shorter but no less difficult than the previous snow and ice-laden run through the mountains, with its own bumps and numerous bends to race across before reaching the finish line. The results for this stage are surprising indeed.

The Abarth Team's Giandomenico Basso signed a quickest time of 17:16.0, thereby recording his first stage win of the rally. That can be expected of the experienced Italian, but seeing the lesser-powered Renault Clio of Mathieu Arzeno take second place on these treacherous routes was not.

Despite the stage win, Basso did not seem much happier: "Very difficult, like the previous one, with a little black ice. It's really tough."

Albeit 30 seconds down from the stage-winning time, Jan Kopecky was in a better mood as he raced to third position. It seems his Skoda Fabia has decided to cooperate a bit more after causing some worries earlier.

"It's going a little bit better," Kopecky reported. "The power steering is working better than on the previous stage."

Another competitor did surprisingly well in these conditions, as Luca Betti claimed fourth place at the controls of his two-wheel-drive Renault Clio.

After winning previously, Freddy Loix signed the fifth-best time on this run. "The stage changed a lot between the passage of the spotters and the moment we started," said the Peugeot Belux driver. "Conditions are very difficult."

Stéphane Sarrazin was hoping that his tyre choice might begin to pay off this time. Considering what happened on this run, finishing in sixth position 54 seconds down the line seemed a good result indeed.

"We hit a wall because of black ice," explained the Peugeot Sport team driver. "We punctured a tyre and its completely destroyed."

The Mitsubishi Lancer of Patrick Artru came next, followed by the very cautious Sébastien Ogier. The Frenchman took eighth position with his BFGoodrich car, ending his run over a minute away from the best time.

"I'm being really, extremely prudent. It's very tricky," said the rally leader. "I never accelerate, I constantly keep on the brakes," he joked.

Frédéric Romeyer's Mitsubishi settled into the ninth spot, followed by Grande Punto driver Olivier Burri who was feeling lucky indeed to reach the top ten: "I've never seen such a thing!"

"We were going in every direction, sideways, in reverse," Burri elaborated. "We were all over the place."

Finishing further down the line, Anton Alen reported problems with his factory Abarth Grande Punto: "The car was moving a lot and on the first ten kilometres we encountered engine trouble."

Trouble of another sort affected the now former overall second-placed Toni Gardemeister. The Finn had reported demister issues at the conclusion of the previous stage, but it seems more serious problems appeared afterwards as he did not place his Grande Punto on the start line for this run.

Gardemeister's unfortunate retirement spelled good news for the Peugeot camp, as the French manufacturer now has three cars on the provisional podium.

With his former closest pursuer out of the picture, Sébastien Ogier's lead in the general standings has increased to 1:57.4 on the now second-placed Freddy Loix. Despite his tyre trouble, Stéphane Sarrazin now reaches third place on the leaderboard with two stages left to complete.

However, Jan Kopecky is a mere two seconds away and has a golden opportunity to stand on the third step of the podium for the Skoda Team's maiden IRC foray. Over a minute away, Giandomenico Basso completes the overall top five.

The competitors now head back to the Monaco service park. In the evening darkness, conditions are deteriorating; the second passage over the Turini stages promises to be even more chaotic.

Notwithstanding the order on the leaderboard, no one can firmly predict who will win this 77th Monte Carlo Rally.