Some bikers have a knack for riding under the radar and then popping up when you least expect them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It has almost become a speciality for\u00a0Luciano Benavides, who, for example, became world champion without having won an event in 2023 and who also picked up two consecutive stages on the Dakar Rally last year before finishing at the foot of the podium in 4th<\/sup>\u00a0place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Argentinean repeated a similar feat to set the fastest time over the 356 kilometres of the special, climbing, for the first time in his career, into the top 3 of the overall rankings, 5\u201955\u2019\u2019 behind his leader in the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Daniel Sanders\u00a0took advantage of the route to Hail to regain the lead in the Dakar Rally. With the fourth best time, 5\u201950\u2019\u2019 behind his team-mate, the title holder may have reaped the rewards of a strategy developed within the KTM clan. He will take starter\u2019s orders on a stage almost entirely made up of dunes in a favourable position with possibly an ally for navigating through the second part of the route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The special also enabled two other riders to put in their best performances of the week:\u00a0Nacho Cornejo\u00a0took 2nd<\/sup>\u00a0place on his Hero, 3\u201951\u2019\u2019 behind\u00a0Benavides, while\u00a0Bradley Cox\u00a0finished 7\u201922\u2019\u2019 after the day\u2019s winner, in 4th<\/sup>\u00a0place, equalling his best performance in five participations on the Dakar (achieved on stage 1 in 2024).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each of the two leading teams also had their share of disappointments today. For KTM, the spectacular start enjoyed by\u00a0Edgar Canet\u00a0(with victories on the prologue and first stage) seem a distant memory after the problems that disrupted his day, beginning with the foam melting on his rear wheel. Though the time he lost is not yet known, it is clear that he can wave goodbye to competing at the forefront of the rally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Monster Energy Honda HRC,\u00a0Ricky Brabec\u00a0is displaying first-class consistency, perhaps to the extent that he can lay claim to being team leader, following a major blunder by\u00a0Tosha Schareina. The Spaniard held his own on the tracks but received a 10-minute penalty for forgetting to leave the bivouac-refuge between the flags. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This breach of the rules has dropped him off the provisional podium into 4th<\/sup>\u00a0place and he will now have to make up a deficit of a dozen minutes on Sanders to be in with a shout for outright triumph.\u00a0Adrien Van Beveren, who has already experienced difficult days on this edition, hit a new low today after having lost more than half an hour, partially due to a wire that got stuck in his wheel after 88 kilometres. When your luck is out, it really is out\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ross Branch\u00a0also had a tough day and is now far off the summit of the overall rankings, 1 hour and 23 minutes behind\u00a0Sanders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Some bikers have a knack for riding under the radar and then popping up when you least expect<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[311,310],"class_list":["post-7746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-motorsports","tag-rally"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t