Al Rajhi wins the stage 48 hours, Loeb makes up for lost time

The first part of the 48-hour time trial stage of the Dakar was very shaken on Sunday, but we still had to complete a good third of the total distance, flirting with 1000 km, to see the finish this Monday. Leaving their respective camps at dawn, around 7 a.m. (5 a.m. local time), the competitors finished but things still moved on.

At the front, Yazeed Al Rajhi continued to lead at full speed and, even if he saw Nasser Al-Attiyah come back to around twenty seconds, the Saudi put in one last saving effort which allowed him to achieve stage victory. At the wheel of his Toyota Hilux, he managed to win, despite a two-minute penalty received for speeding in a restricted zone.

Behind the two men, it was Henk Lategan who joined the battle to finally steal second place at 4'16 from the scratch, while Nasser Al-Attiyah finished at 6'29, after having also suffered a loss. 'a four-minute penalty. Argentine driver Juan Cruz Yacopini took fourth place in this excellent stage for the Toyota clan, ahead of Mathieu Serradori and Rokas Baciuska.

But it was especially towards seventh place in the special that all eyes were turned since we found Sébastien Loeb there who spared no effort. Affected by electronic problems the day before aboard the Dacia Sandrider, the Frenchman left with his feet on the floor without encountering any problems. Thus, his delay of more than half an hour was reduced by half, finally amounting to 13'08 on the line to remain more than ever in the game on this Dakar!

Her teammate Cristina Gutiérrez cannot say the same, she who perfectly supported her leader on Sunday. Technical problems with the third Dacia forced the Spaniard to leave the special to return to the bivouac in the company of a support truck.

Further away, other favorites or outsiders have bitten the dust. Starting in a roll yesterday, Carlos Sainz was more than an hour behind for a long time before being forced to stop for a long time, crossing the line 1h33 behind the winner. His teammate Nani Roma also stopped his Ford Raptor due to mechanical problems, in a day that the Ford clan saved thanks to Mattias Ekström, eighth in the special at 15'42.

Guillaume de Mévius, who stopped several times, and Giniel de Villiers, both had to do some mechanical work, without either managing to reach the finish line at the time of writing these lines. For all these competitors, the gaps promise to be enormous in the event that they finally rally the support.

In the general classification, Henk Lategan is the new leader of the Dakar, with a margin of 4'45 over Yazeed Al Rajhi and 11'14 over Nasser Al-Attiyah. While the astonishing duo of ex-bikers Toby Price and Sam Sunderland confirm their excellent start to the event in fifth place, we find just behind Mattias Ekström and Sébastien Loeb, for whom the 18'56 delay is ultimately a good news given Sunday's scenario.

Provisional general classification Cars

Sanders is the man to beat

In the Motorcycle category, the feeling that everything was already decided after dark except for a twist was confirmed. In total management after taking advantage of his starting position and joining the first group to control it, Daniel Sanders won his third stage in a row with 6'45 over Adrien van Beveren and 7'37 over Skyler Howes.

Paradoxically, this 48 hour stage confirmed the superiority of the Australian for the moment, without doing much to clean up the favorites.

In the general classification, the KTM rider is in the lead with a comfortable lead of 12'36 over Skyler Howes and 12'40 over Ross Branch. Adrien van Beveren made an interesting move by moving up to sixth place, 22'10 behind the leader.

Provisional general classification Motorcycles