The 9th stage of the Dakar took the drivers from Riyadh to Haradh with nearly 600 km, 350 of which were timed. Like the day before, Luciano Benavides won even though he opened the special. Adrien Van Beveren finished 2nd and retained his 3rd place in the provisional standings.
Stage 9 Riyadh – Haradh had already taken place in 2023 and it had already been won by Luciano Benavides (Arg-KTM). Two years later, the Argentinian wins again at the destination! He won with a 1mn54″ lead over Adrien Van Beveren (Honda) after opening the special from start to finish, recovering a bonus of 4mn51″ which was decisive for the victory. Long leader, Daniel Sanders (Aus-KTM) finished 3rd at 3mn04″. Followed by Ricky Brabec (USA-Honda) 4th at 3mn39″ ahead of his compatriot and teammate Skyler Howes 5th at 4mn40″, Ignacio Cornejo (Chl-Hero) 6th at 4mn55″ and Tosha Schareina (E-Honda) 7th at 6mn46″. The latter fell and lost time overall while he is still in 2nd position, but now 14 minutes behind Sanders. As for VBA, he is still 3rd, 20 minutes behind Sanders.
Luciano Benavides wins this 9th stage of the Dakar 2025. The 7th for KTM in this edition. © ASO
Luciano Benavides won 3 stages on the Dakar in 2023 and now has 2 this year. This is the 5th victory of his career. It allows him to consolidate his 4th place in the general classification, with Ricky Brabec 3mn47″ behind. This would be his best result if the order is not changed by Friday, the Argentinian having so far managed to finish 6th twice (2020, 2023). Other info, an anti-doping test took place Monday evening on the first 6 in the provisional ranking, a rare occurrence in rallying.
Dakar Rally 2025
Luciano Benavides : “Honestly, it was very difficult to open the track at certain points, but I am very happy with the pace I set, I really had to pay close attention to the notes and I opened well from start to finish. I didn’t think this stage would be so hard yesterday when I won. But on the Dakar, it’s never easy. I obviously made some mistakes, Adrien caught me about 8 km before the finish. This Dakar was decided from the prologue. Daniel won it and he’s held the cards ever since. The 48 hours killed the race a little bit, it wasn’t ideal to start with this long stage. Daniel did a great job. »
Tosha Schareina fell this morning shortly after the start of the special but was able to finish and retains 2nd place overall. He has also been riding with a badly damaged collarbone since last week according to rumors from the bivouac. © ASO
Tosha Schareina: “I fell hard around km 20, I didn’t have good visibility because of the morning light. I wasted some time putting the bike back together, Ricky arrived and we rode together to the finish. It’s part of the game. I’m OK. After a fall like that my body will hurt, but I’m going to take advantage of this afternoon’s rest to be ready for tomorrow. »
VBA : “It was a very difficult stage, less eventful than yesterday but still complicated in navigation. It wasn’t a transition stage, in fact I had to do three or four U-turns today. I was with Luciano and we set a big rhythm. In this case the “nav” becomes more complicated. On certain stages you have to accept making a few small mistakes. Maybe Tosha is riding less, but he still manages to ride strong. »
Jeremy Miroir fell on this 9th stage but was able to restart. We are waiting for news from Auvergnat… © Fantic
The disappointment of the day
There’s no joy in the South African clan. After Ross Branch (Hero) and Bradley Cox (KTM), Aaron Mare was evacuated after a fall at the start of the stage and severe leg pain. Just like his compatriots, the HT Rally team driver who was in 20th place overall before his fall, will not see the finish. Another hard blow, a fall for Jérémy Miroir (Fantic) who was nevertheless able to restart after a medical examination on the track. Nothing broken but pain everywhere and a scarred face at the end of the day.
Xavier Flick is still in the race, 28th in the provisional ranking on his Hoto motorcycle, a new Chinese brand in the race after Kove. © ASO
And the other French?
Mathieu Dovèze (F-KTM Bas) is back at the forefront with an 8th place scratch and a great victory in Rally2 after the penalties inflicted on Edgar Canet (E-KTM) ultimately 2nd. Romain Dumontier (F-Honda), who stopped alongside Aaron Mare, finished 3rd of the day (11th overall) in Rally2 after recovering his downtime. Neels Théric (Kove) takes 10th place in R2 and is 4th in the provisional standings despite the 15 minutes of penalties he received two days ago after changing his engine. Benjamin Melot (Esprit KTM) finished 2nd in the motorcycle trunk (and 14th overall!) because of a 2-minute penalty which allowed the experienced Romanian Emanuel Gyenes (KTM) to take the stage victory.
RESULTS
Scratch of the step:
Provisional classification:
