Men and machines suffered to overcome the 2nd stage of the Dakar rally in Saudi Arabia on Monday, the grueling « 48h chrono »won by the Australian Daniel Sanders in the motorcycles and by the young Lithuanian Rokas Baciuska in the car category, whose defending champion, the Spaniard Carlos Sainz, retired.
Initially ranked 5th in this marathon stage of 967 km spread over two days, the young 25-year-old driver (Overdrive), who is in his fourth Dakar but the first in the premier category of cars, benefited from a correction of his time, reduced by twelve minutes by the organization due to a refueling problem.
By this new calculation, published almost nine hours after the arrival of the leader of the race in Bisha (southwest), the Lithuanian finished first in a time of 10 hours 54 minutes and 11 seconds.
Saudi driver Yazeed al-Rajhi, initially declared the winner, fell to second place at 02:43. “It was really very, very hard. I have the impression that we are on our tenth day of Dakar”he declared upon his arrival at the bivouac of the famous rally-raid, which only started on Friday and lasts until January 17.
Fourth in the stage, almost seven minutes behind, South African Henk Lategan takes the lead in the provisional general classification.
The Lithuanian Rokas Baciuska during the prologue of the Dakar, January 3, 2025 in Saudi Arabia / Valery HACHE / AFP
For this long stage, the competitors had to bivouac in the desert and did not benefit from the assistance of their teams at the night stop.
Victim of a rollover on Sunday which seriously damaged his Ford Raptor, defending champion Carlos Sainz managed to reach the finish line more than an hour and a half behind the leaders.
But the Spanish driver will not go any further, the safety bar of his car having been too deformed in the accident. “The end of the adventure for the four-time Dakar winner and defending champion, Carlos Sainz, and his co-driver Lucas Cruz. See you soon, King Carlos »tweeted the rally management on its X account.
Being half an hour late at the camp on Sunday evening, due to a fan problem which overheated his engine, Frenchman Sébastien Loeb largely made up for his delay on Monday and finished 7th, almost 16 minutes behind.
And three for Sanders
“It was good gas all the way. Apart from when we were down, we didn’t give up much”declared the 50-year-old Alsatian on arrival, regretting the “plugs” along the route.
The nine-time world rally champion believed on Sunday that his mechanical problems were going to cost him once again his dream of a triumph in the Dakar, which still eludes him in his ninth participation.
“When I arrived at the first +refuel+, I thought we were staying there”he confided at the desert camp where the pilots had to spend the night mid-stage.
Australian biker Daniel Sanders during the prologue of the 47th Dakar in Bisha, January 3, 2025 / Valery HACHE / AFP/Archives
Dacia driver Cristina Gutiérrez had to leave the 48 hours on the second day of racing, towed by a support truck at km 729 due to a power steering problem.
On the motorbike, Australian Daniel Sanders continues to dominate the rally by winning for the third time in a row on his KTM in 11h 12 min 13sec, 6 min 45 sec ahead of Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren (Honda).
This third victory in a row, after the prologue and the first stage, is an unprecedented series in the motorcycle category since that achieved by the Spaniard Joan Barreda in 2017 between Bolivia and Argentina.
Daniel Sanders aims to become the second Australian to win the Dakar on a motorcycle after Toby Price (2016 and 2018).
He logically retains the lead in the provisional general classification, with 12 min 36 sec ahead of Skyler Howes. The third step is occupied by the Botswanan Ross Branch (Hero), four seconds behind the American.
