Chicherit leader of the Dakar, the favorites voluntarily let slip

Nearly five hours of special, more than 400 km, varied terrain at very changing rhythms, and complicated navigation halfway through: this was the menu for the first stage of the Dakar 2025, made up this Saturday of a loop around Bisha.

While the top ten in the Prologue were able to choose their starting position, it was Guillaume de Mévius who opened the road at the wheel of his Mini, in a day which gave pride of place to the outsiders, if not the drivers less expected for the final overall victory. And for good reason, because everyone's tactics played a role in not finding themselves trapped in a bad position at the start, on Sunday, of the formidable 48-hour stage!

If the Lithuanian Rokas Baciuska mixed with the best during the first checkpoints, he became disillusioned around the 200 km mark when he had to stop for almost two hours to repair his Toyota Hilux. On the clock, we witnessed an unexpected fight between Guerlain Chicherit, Saood Variawa and Lucas Moraes, but the Brazilian let around ten minutes slip away in the last 50 kilometers.

There was undoubtedly a strategic desire there since this first stage clearly saw the favorites turn away from the timetable objective. Thus, Sébastien Loeb even stopped for a few moments shortly before crossing the finish line to ensure not to start among the first on Sunday.

He explained it at the end of a day that had become “boring” under these conditions: “The goal was not to set the best time. Everyone played the same game. We hid behind a big rock, we saw Nasser and Ekström, the two cars following us, pass by, then Lategan. “

Guerlain Chicherit therefore took the scratch after completing the stage 50 seconds ahead of Seth Quintero and 1'03 ahead of Saood Variawa.

The first hierarchy is therefore almost anecdotal and does not really allow us to distinguish the strengths and weaknesses of each person. With the tough challenge of the 48H stage on Sunday, we will most likely have to wait until Monday evening to see a first significant general classification emerge. In the meantime, Guerlain Chicherit is indeed leader of the 2025 Dakar.

The defending champion Carlos Sainz is at 2'32 and we have to go beyond the top 10 to find Mattias Ekström (+7'17), Nani Roma (+8'43), Nasser Al-Attiyah (+10'28 ) or Sébastien Loeb (+11'31). Note that the Qatari suffered a puncture before stopping longer to be sure of going far enough on Sunday.

Provisional general classification Cars

Sanders doubles down on a Motorcycle

In the Motorcycle category, the day started with a major retirement. Sebastian Bühler fell at the 68th kilometer. Injured in the shoulder, he received assistance from Skyler Howes. The German from the official Hero clan was then evacuated, hit in the shoulder and forced to prematurely abandon his Dakar, like last year.

Winner of the Prologue the day before and starting 23rd on the road, Daniel Sanders hit the mark on the clock by offering himself his second consecutive victory on the handlebars of his KTM. The Australian beat defending champion Ricky Brabec by 2'04 and Ross Branch by 2'26. The Frenchman Adrien van Beveren completed the day's stage almost a quarter of an hour behind the leader.

In the general classification, Daniel Sanders is 2'22 ahead of Ricky Brabec and 2'38 over Ross Branch. Pointed at 15'11, Skyler Howes was then logically recredited by around ten minutes after stopping at Sebastian Bühler's bedside.

Provisional general classification Motorcycles