After the untimely departure of Prologue winner Tosha Schareina, the Monster Energy Honda Team riders made their mark on the first part of a marathon stage as they ventured from Al Duwadimi to Al Salamiya. Headed by Ricky Brabec the entire team put in solid performances, taking 3 of the top 4 spots on the stage… and holding 4 of the top 5 positions overall! While Nacho Cornejo didn’t reprise his Stage 2 win, he is still second overall.
Meanwhile American Skyler Howes finished just 6 seconds behind teammate Adrien Van Beveren for 4th. However it was former Dakar winner Ricky Brabec who was the HRC pacesetter, second on Stage 3, but more importantly, closing the gap with Rally leader Ross Branch to 5 minutes.
“I recovered some time today and rode the best I could,” said Brabec, downplaying the fact he was only a minute from winning the Stage outright. “It was a long day and I had a couple of hiccups early on but here we are at the end of day three so I’m happy to be able to start Stage 4.”
Don’t start popping the champagne corks just yet, cautions the veteran racer. “There's a long way to go… but we will keep fighting.”
Dakar Provisional Standings after Stage 3
Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 BRANCH, Ross 16 BWA Hero Motorsports Team Rally Hero 14H 32' 51"
2 CORNEJO, José Ignacio "Nacho" 11 CHI Monster Energy Honda Team Honda +03.11
3 BRABEC, Ricky 9 USA Monster Energy Honda Team Honda +05.08
4 QUINTANILLA Pablo 7 CHI Monster Energy Honda Team Honda +16.16
5 VAN BEVEREN, Adrien 42 FRA Monster Energy Honda Team Honda +20.16
12 HOWES, Skyler 10 USA Monster Energy Honda Team Honda +41.45
