Paris - Two giant Antonov 124 transport planes were due in Niamey on Wednesday evening to airlift the entire Dakar-Cairo Rally from Niger to Libya because of security fears.
Four stages through the Tenere desert, seen as the highlight of the trans-Sahara test, have been cancelled. Organisers hope to resume the race on Monday.
A total of 336 competing vehicles - cars, motorcycles and lorries - and 1 365 crew were waiting to be moved. The airlift was not expected to be completed until Sunday.
Most competitors were happy that the rally will continue but French motorcycle rider Richard Sainct, winner of Tuesday's sixth stage to Niamey, where the rally was halted, said: "This doesn't suit me at all."
Sainct, second overall in the two-wheeled section, had hoped to make up ground on leader Joan Roma of Spain, whose KTM may have struggled in the sandy wastes of the original route.
Mitsubishi driver Kenjiro Shinozuka of Japan heads the car section in a Mitsubishi.
Rally organisers heeded US and French government warnings of potential attacks.
It's a question of terrorism, more particularly terrorism coming from a country foreign to the one we are crossing, said Jean-Claude Killy, president of the company organising the event.
Incidents have marred previous rallies in the Sahara. They include a stage in Chad cancelled because of the threat of a rebel attack, a truck driver killed by a land mine, and Mauritanian bandits stealing four cars, three trucks and a motorcycle.
The rally is due to end in Cairo on January 23. - Reuters