A real sigh of relief for all the drivers. The famous 2nd stage, known as “48 hours” contested over two days around Bisha (Saudi Arabia), quickly plunged a large majority of the competitors of this 47th edition of the Dakar into the tough. In the car category, Sébastien Loeb (Dacia) was able to limit the damage on Monday January 6, while Daniel Sanders (KTM) continued to win in the motorcycle category. 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.
Henk Lategan new overall car leader
Yazeed al-Rajhi (Overdrive) won the formidable “48 hour” stage in his country on Monday. The 43-year-old Saudi completed the 967 km special in 10h56'54'' and was less than five minutes ahead of South African Henk Lategan (Toyota), the new leader in the general classification. “It was really very, very hard. I have the impression that we are on our tenth day of Dakar”reacted Yazeed al-Rajhi upon his arrival at the bivouac. Overall, he is 4'45″ behind Lategan, while the third step of the podium is occupied by the Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia), 11'14″ behind the leader.
Sébastien Loeb scrounges up time, Carlos Sainz loses a lot of time
More fear than harm, for Sébastien Loeb (Dacia), who is aiming for nothing other than the coronation that has eluded him since his debut in the rally-raid in 2016. Accusing half an hour late Sunday evening at the camp , following a fan problem which caused his engine to overheat, the WRC legend largely made up for his deficit on Monday, finishing in seventh position in this stage. He is in sixth place overall, 18'56'' behind Henk Lategan.
Victim of a rollover on Sunday which seriously damaged his Ford Raptor, defending champion Carlos Sainz managed to finish the stage but more than 1h35 behind the winner. 35th at the end of the “48 hours”, the Spaniard now has a deficit of 1h30 on the first overall.
Three in a row for Daniel Sanders, Adrien Van Beveren reassures himself on a motorbike
For his part, life is very good for Daniel Sanders. Riding his KTM, the Australian scored a third victory in a row and remains quite simply undefeated since the start of this 47th edition of the Dakar. An unprecedented performance in the history of rally raids as he beat Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren (Honda) at the finish of these “48 hours”. The latter, after a complicated first stage on Saturday, reacted well while he had the difficult task of opening the track. He now occupies sixth place overall, just over 22 minutes behind Daniel Sanders.
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 12'36'' ahead of Skyler Howes (Honda). The third step is occupied by the Botswanan Ross Branch (Hero), four seconds behind the American.
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