Frenchman Claude Arnoux took an early lead...
Frenchman Claude Arnoux took an early lead as the long, grueling Paris-Dakar rally began Sunday with a three-mile preliminary in Chevilly-Larue, a suburb south of Paris.
The 7,094-mile endurance race heads south today, when more than 450 vehicles head out of Paris for Marseille. Next they cross the Mediterranean for desert stages that end Jan. 16 in Senegal.
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