Dakar Rally Stage 5 Update: Daniel “Chucky” Sanders still leads going into rest day, teammate Luciano Benavides wins stage.
Following his victory yesterday, Daniel Sanders was tasked with opening Stage 5, tackling the 428-kilometer special with a clear focus on gaining time and delivering another solid performance. Facing challenging navigation with complex roadbook notes and hidden waypoints, Sanders consistently recorded top-10 times at each checkpoint. While he earned nearly six minutes in bonus time, an eight-minute penalty for speeding dropped him to 12th place.
Despite this setback, Chucky retains a seven-minute overall lead in the rally and is well-positioned for Saturday’s Stage 6, where his strong starting position offers an excellent opportunity to chase down the riders ahead.
Going into the rest day after the Marathon Stage 5 leg of the Dakar Rally, Top Americans Skyler Howes and Ricky Brabec are still in striking distance. After losing a chunk of time yesterday, Brabec showed why he is a double Dakar Rally champion as his composed ride to the finish line at Ha’il saw him in fifth, just three and a half minutes off the best time of the day.
Brabec’s back! Although starting to feel mentally exhausted, he brilliantly managed to slice nearly ten minutes off his overall time today so will be one to watch next week as he aims to reduce it further as the rally heads towards the finish at Shubaytah a week from tomorrow.
The second part of the marathon stage tested the Monster Energy Honda HRC riders on Thursday following no team assistance at the AlUla bivouac last night when the riders were allowed just 30 minutes to work on their bikes to prepare them for today’s 428km special stage. The varied terrain heading east towards Ha’il would push their tires to the limit to make their wear a deciding factor in the results today as each rider had to use their one set of tires over two days and across a huge total of 843 kilometers.
“It’s the way the Dakar Rally is going for us, but it’s all good,” said Brabec from the Bivouac. “I’m here, I’m healthy, I’m happy with my navigating and riding but I know the results probably don’t show how I feel. Things aren’t working out in my favor so it’s been tough and mentally exhausting. Now we’re at rest day in Ha’il, we’ll push on for the best result we can get at next week’s finish.”
