Dakar: Daniel Sanders takes the first stage
After winning the prologue yesterday, the Aussie Daniel Sanders was also the best during the first real Dakar stage. Some favorites immediately lost a lot of time and seem to be working on an almost impossible task to go for a final victory.
Daniel Sanders (Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing) was able to save just over three minutes at the finish in Hail over the Chilean Pablo Quintanilla (HRC Honda). Matthias Walkner (KTM) already had 11 minutes to spare and crossed the line in third place. Last year's winner, Kevin Benavides, has to face a deficit of 36 minutes. He managed to finish this stage in 14th placede. Joan Barreda gave up 41 minutes and Toby Price finished in 47 minutes. Things are even worse for Honda rider Ricky Brabec. He finished 35thth and lost a full hour to Sanders.
Jérôme Martiny did excellently and scored a nice 29 todayth place. Mathieu Liebaert turned 50th, Mikael Despontin 54th and good old Walter Roelants 86th. Dutchman Wiljan van Wikselaar turned 58th, Mirjam Pol turned 62th and Bram van der Wouden 130th . You can view all results via this link. Tomorrow there is stage two from Hail to Al Artawiya over 338 km. If there were still some rock formations to be seen today, this will be different tomorrow because one section of dunes will follow the other.
Stage 1 Hail – Hail
Pos | Name | Brand | Time | Verschil | penalty | Pos |
STAGE 1B | ||||||
1 | 004 – DANIEL SANDERS (AUS) | GASGAS 450 RALLY FACTORY REPLICA | 4h38m40s | + 00: 00: 00 | –:–:– | (1) |
2 | 007 – PABLO QUINTANILLA (CHL) | HONDA CRF450 RALLY | 4h41m47s | + 00: 03: 07 | –:–:– | (2) |
3 | 052 – MATTHEW WALKNER (AUT) | KTM 450 RALLY FACTORY REPLICA | 4h49m46s | + 00: 11: 06 | –:–:– | (3) |
4 | 042 – ADRIEN VAN BEVEREN (FRA) | YAMAHA WR450F | 4h51m26s | + 00: 12: 46 | –:–:– | (4) |
5 | 043 – MASON KLEIN (USA) | KTM 450 RALLY REPLICA | 4h53m14s | + 00: 14: 34 | –:–:– | (5) |
6 | 003 – SAM SUNDERLAND (GBR) | KTM 450 RALLY FACTORY REPLICA | 4h54m36s | + 00: 15: 56 | –:–:– | (6) |
7 | 015 – LORENZO SANTOLINO (ESP) | SHERCO FACTORY 450 SEF RALLY | 4h55m34s | + 00: 16: 54 | –:–:– | (7) |
8 | 012 – XAVIER DE SOULTRAIT (FRA) | HUSQVARNA FR 450 RALLY | 4h57m16s | + 00: 18: 36 | –:–:– | (8) |
9 | 016 – ROSS BRANCH (BWA) | YAMAHA WR450F RALLY | 4h58m01s | + 00: 19: 21 | –:–:– | (9) |
10 | 005 – SKYLER HOWES (USA) | HUSQVARNA 450 RALLY FACTORY REPLICA | 5h03m52s | + 00: 25: 12 | –:–:– | (10) |
29 | 056 – JEROME MARTINY (WHITE) | HUSQVARNA 450 RALLY | 5h33m04s | + 00: 54: 24 | –:–:– | (29) |
50 | 114 – MATHIEU LIEBAERT (BEL) | KTM 450 RALLY FACTORY REPLICA | 6h15m40s | + 01: 37: 00 | –:–:– | (50) |
54 | 058 – MIKAEL DESPONTIN (BEL) | KTM 450 RALLYE | 6h19m01s | + 01: 40: 21 | –:–:– | (54) |
86 | 067 – WALTER ROELANTS (BEL) | HUSQVARNA FR 450 RALLY REPLICA | 7h14m18s | + 02: 35: 38 | –:–:– | (86) |
Photos: Gas Gas
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