STAGE 1 Highlights
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CANET GIVES AN ENCORE
- The young Spaniard Edgar Canet, who claimed the Rally2 title last season, followed up his prologue win in Yanbu with another barnstorming performance in his debut at the top level. The KTM rider bagged stage 1 and tightened his grip on the overall lead.
- Ross Branch was the fastest competitor in the 305 km special, but a 6-minute penalty for speeding cost him victory.
- The stage podium is a carbon copy of yesterday’s, but featuring wider margins. Edgar Canet defeated the last two winners of the Dakar, putting 1′02″ into his Red Bull KTM Factory Racing teammate Daniel Sanders and 1′32″ into their Monster Energy Honda HRC rival Ricky Brabec.
- The Rally2 special saw the prolific Michael Docherty claim his eleventh win in the class on his KTM, beating the rookie Martim Ventura and his Honda, who had spent most of the stage in the lead but came up short in the final dash to the line, by 1′28″.
DE MÉVIUS AND BAUMEL THE COUPLE OF THE YEAR
- When a car wins a stage, it should always be seen as a team effort, but today more than ever. Guillaume de Mévius and Mathieu Baumel had already grabbed a stage win together in 2024 en route to second place overall, but their victory in Yanbu tastes even sweeter. Indeed, there was no guarantee that the crew would ever race together again after the French navigator lost his right leg following an accident.
- The prologue winner, Mattias Ekström, and his Ford Raptor held stage 1 in a vice grip for a long time but ended up fourth at the finish, 1′38″ behind the triumphant Mini.
- Nasser Al Attiyah slotted in right behind De Mévius, 40 seconds back at the end of the 305 km special. The Czech driver Martin Prokop, who has switched to a Ford Raptor tuned by his own private structure for his eleventh Dakar, rounded out the podium. The former WRC driver, fifth in the 2024 Dakar, appears to have stepped up his game.
- Sébastien Loeb eased up a bit after suffering two punctures near the start of stage 1. It ended up costing him three minutes, but he is pleased with his tenth place, which puts him in a prime position to go on the attack on the road to AlUla tomorrow morning.
- The defending champion, Yazeed Al Rajhi, will not be as happy after finishing the special almost 29 minutes down on Guillaume de Mévius, including two penalties totalling 16 minutes (one for missing a waypoint and another for speeding).
STAT OF THE DAY: 11TH DAY IN THE LEAD FOR DE SOULTRAIT
Echoes of 2025 as Xavier de Soultrait leads the SSV overall after stage 1. Back then, the Frenchman held on to the top spot for three stages. The former rider is starting to get used to it. Only die-hard fans will remember that „XdS“ had already led the race for a day after stage 4 of the 2021 edition, when he was still racing as a motorbike privateer. In 2024, he flew to the summit again for 6 stages (7 through 12) en route to his first SSV title. Last year, the Loeb Fraymedia Motorsport held on to the lead until the end of stage 3. Today is De Soultrait’s 11th day at the top of the Dakar ranking. It was also his seventh special win, adding his two victories on a motorbike to his five on four wheels.
PERFORMANCE OF THE DAY: A NEW PROKOP ARISES
Throughout his first ten Dakar participations, Martin Prokop was known for delivering solid performances without making a fuss. The former WRC driver from the Czech Republic has never failed to finish the Dakar and has even cracked the top 10 five times, including fifth place in 2024. A regular sight at the top of the privateer ranking, his perseverance as team principal encouraged him to continue his adventure with a prototype to which gave the self-deprecating nickname „Shrek“. This time round, he invested in a 2025 Ford Raptor T1+, which he put in the care of his own engineers. „It’s nimbler and lets you go faster, but the psychological factor will be key. I’m ready to go as fast as the top drivers“, he pointed out during scrutineering on Thursday. It looks like he might have finally got rid of his mental block. Prokop and his Raptor came in third in the special, his third performance at this level in the Dakar. He had already pulled it off in stages 1 of the 2021 and 2022 editions.
A CRUSHING BLOW: YAZEED AL RAJHI STUMBLES AT THE FIRST HURDLE
The reigning Dakar champion in the car category had finished sixth in the prologue, in line with his usual discretion at the front of the race, but today was a completely different story. The Saudi initially crossed the finish line with the 20th-fastest time, only to be slapped with 16 minutes in penalties for missing a waypoint and speeding. Al Rajhi now sits 38th overall at 28′52″. Overturning such a deficit is going to be difficult, but not impossible. Three days ago, during scrutineering, the title holder had been asked time and again about his condition following his accident in competition at the beginning of 2025. He said, „In the Dakar, there’s no need to attack from the beginning, you need to go on the offence at the right time“. But, for Al Rajhi, it is now or never.
TRUCKS ACTION
MEGA-GALLERY
Quelle / Source / Pictures / Bilder: Dakar Rally, A.S.O
