Henk Lategan recaptures the Dakar in main!

For the eighth stage of this 47th edition, the Dakar headed to the Saudi capital, Riyadh, with a special stage with separate routes for the Car and Motorcycle categories. On the program, not necessarily enormous difficulties, but a good part of endurance which weighs on the machines and the organisms, comprising 488 km timed.

Starting third, Guillaume de Mévius was the unlucky one of the day since he stopped for a long time to try to resolve a mechanical problem that occurred at the rear of his Mini. Supported by his co-pilot Mathieu Baumel, the Belgian lost more than an hour and a half in this mishap. At the front, it was the winner of the day before, Lucas Moraes, who opened the road and paid the price by quickly losing more than a quarter of an hour.

Above all, we witnessed a new explanation between the contenders for the final victory, with Henk Lategan determined to set the record straight while taking advantage of his starting position. After seeing his overall lead reduced to nothing on Sunday (21 seconds), the South African went on the attack again and began to lead the rankings after around a hundred kilometers.

Yazeed Al Rajhi and Nasser Al-Attiyah quickly found themselves in a position to open the road, which cost them time compared to the rally leader, while regaining a lot of ground from Mattias Ekström who did not had the best day since the start of the Dakar after starting second.

Solid from start to finish, Henk Lategan won his second stage victory this year, after the Prologue. A day which gave pride of place to the outsiders who started from further away since Guy Botterill and Mathieu Serradori finished second and third, at 1’47 and 4’04.

In the general classification, and despite a two-minute penalty imposed at the finish for speeding in a limited zone, the Toyota driver regains some air with a lead which returns to 5’41 over Yazeed Al Rajhi, all by pushing back Mattias Ekström at 28’55. Still fourth, Nasser Al-Attiyah finds himself behind the half-hour mark four stages from the end of this 2025 Dakar, with a delay which is now 36’14 for the Dacia driver.

Provisional general classification Cars

Schareina does not bend Sanders

The special in the Motorcycle category, 484 km long, cost Pablo Quintanilla dearly. Then seventh in the general classification, the Chilean fell after 133 km and injured his shoulder. Unable to continue, he was forced to retire for the fourth time in 13 participations, having finished second in the Dakar in 2020 and 2022.

Adrien van Beveren and Luciano Benavídes stayed at his bedside for a long time and lost half an hour, which will logically be credited to them by the organizers. Once they left, the two men led at a brisk pace.

Another resident of the top 10 to have had a bad Monday, Lorenzo Santolino lost more than an hour after suffering electrical problems on his Sherco.

At the forefront, Tosha Schareina also led the offensive in the hope of gaining time from Daniel Sanders with a view to the final victory, which he managed to do to the tune of 3’30. The Australian, as strong as ever, did better than limit the damage as he opened the road and retains the overall lead with 12’03 over his Spanish opponent.

At the time of writing, Tosha Schareina is the provisional winner of the stage with 2’07 ahead of Ricky Brabec, but the times of Adrian van Beveren and Luciano Benavídes, who arrived half an hour behind delay, could put them back in contention for the scratch of the day once the credit has been calculated. The information will not be known before the arrival of the competitors at the bivouac, at the end of the liaison.

Provisional general classification Motorcycles