The Lithuanian Rokas Baciuska won the 48h time trial on Monday January 6, 2e stage of the Dakar rally initially attributed by the organizers to the Saudi Yazeed al-Rajhi, from which the defending champion Carlos Sainz escaped but more than 1 hour 30 minutes late.
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| The Lithuanian Rokas Baciuska during the prologue of the Dakar, January 3, 2025 in Saudi Arabia. |
| Photo : AFP/VNA/CVN |
Nearly nine hours after the arrival of the leader of the race in Bisha (South-West), the young 25-year-old driver (Overdrive), three Dakars on the clock but this is his first year in the premier category of cars, saw his time corrected by 12 minutes by the organization due to a refueling problem.
Initially classified 5th, he therefore finished first in this 967 km special in 10h 54min 11sec, 2min 43 sec behind the Saudi.
In the new stage classification, the podium is completed by the Argentinian Juan Cruz Yacopini, and no longer the Qatari Nasser al-Attiyah. The latter is found 5eafter the South African Henk Lategan.
This is the second time in a row that the organizers have subsequently changed the car stage winner. Initially awarded to Guerlain Chicherit, the first stage on Saturday was finally awarded to the American Seth Quintero.
For the long 48 hours, the competitors had to bivouac in the desert and did not benefit from the assistance of their teams during the night stop.
Victim of a rollover on Sunday which seriously damaged his Ford Raptor, defending champion Carlos Sainz managed to finish the stage but 01h 34min behind the leader.
Being half an hour late at the camp on Sunday evening, following a fan problem which overheated his engine, Frenchman Sébastien Loeb largely made up for his delay and finished 7eat 15min 51sec.
The provisional general classification remains dominated by Henk Lategan, ahead of Yazeed al-Rajhi and Nasser al-Attiyah.
AFP/VNA/CVN
