The 47th edition of the Dakar has set a date for the world's rally-raiders in Saudi Arabia from 3 to 17 January.
More information:
https://www.dakar.com
https://www.facebook.com/Dakar
https://www.twitter.com/Dakar
https://www.instagram.com/DakarRally
#Dakar2025
© Amaury Sport Organisation - https://www.aso.fr
More information:
https://www.dakar.com
https://www.facebook.com/Dakar
https://www.twitter.com/Dakar
https://www.instagram.com/DakarRally
#Dakar2025
© Amaury Sport Organisation - https://www.aso.fr
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SportTranscription
00:00The marathon bivouac, and a whole host of problems for competitors to work on, without
00:24assistance.
00:26This is Dakar, you know. This is special and I like it a lot.
00:31Now we work a bit on the car.
00:36We get two punctures, we try to fix one. And I hope we can fix it.
00:55We're going to have to start all over again and keep breaking everything.
01:26The sun rises over Al-Ula, and the desert bivouac awakes to the sounds of campfires,
01:31engines, boots and anticipation.
01:44We have to conserve mechanics and tires for this stage of the marathon.
01:47There were a lot of stones during the whole stage.
01:49Today we got ahead, but we lost a bit of time.
01:53Now we're in the second part, so halfway to the end of the marathon stage,
01:57so I hope we have a good stage.
02:10Adrien was proved right, anything really can happen.
02:13The Frenchman led until the penultimate waypoint,
02:15before a speeding penalty took victory away.
02:19The man who took advantage of Van Beveren's mistake was the younger
02:22of Red Bull KTM's Benavides brothers, Luciano.
02:25Without a win last year when he finished 7th, Luce is back.
02:30All in all, for me, I feel I'm still in the fight.
02:35Still many kilometres to do, and we'll see how it goes the second week.
02:39And for a second day in a row, it's third place for Nacho Cornejo,
02:43here who have both of their riders inside the top ten.
02:46I'm very glad to see how everybody has improved their navigation.
02:50Some years ago, you didn't see something like what we did today.
02:55Everybody passing each other, opening piste very fast.
02:58It was really fun, I enjoyed it a lot.
03:00Daniel Sanders took 5.42 in opening bonuses,
03:03before eight minutes of speeding penalties.
03:05But even without them, it wouldn't have been a fifth stage for Chucky.
03:09It was good, the first 250km by myself opening,
03:13and just focusing on my riding, which was fun.
03:16And then just a couple of little mistakes in the fast areas,
03:19so the guys at the back catch real quick.
03:21Other than that, it was a pretty good stage.
03:23Feeling good, not working too hard, so that makes life easy.
03:28Sanders is still sitting pretty overall, but the gaps are getting smaller.
03:31Half an hour between the top five last night, it's less than 20 minutes now.
03:35In fact, the 10th fastest of all the bikers is Spanish revelation Edgar Canet,
03:39who continues his extraordinary run.
03:41He won again in Rally 2 today, to extend his overall lead on Tobias Ebster.
03:47I'm happy because I think it's been a very positive week.
03:50I've had good results, good improvements, I've learned a lot.
03:54And getting here means that we're doing things well.
03:59Ebster won Original by Mottul last year,
04:01where riders compete without any assistance.
04:03With even tougher rules this year, leading at the halfway point, Romanian Emmanuel Genes.
04:11We don't have power, you know, 38 horsepower.
04:14Even they cannot do it, so how can we do it?
04:18But we're going to try.
04:19The Toyota Hilux has 375 horsepower, 10 times as much.
04:23As far as we can, that direction.
04:25Then we're going to reverse on the rocks, so we get traction.
04:30And then we're going to explode.
04:32You've got to love the Dakar, but seriously, what did you expect, boys?
04:35It's a 2CV.
04:37Oh, dear.
04:39The ultimate category, the blue-ribboned event,
04:42and yesterday's winner, Yazeed Al-Raji, kicked things off.
04:51Second overall overnight, seven minutes behind Hank Lattekin.
04:55And he was as solid as a rock today.
04:59Really proper, tough, tough, every day tough, every stage tough,
05:02and long and tough and difficult everywhere.
05:05But was it tough at all, Yazeed? That's what I want to know.
05:08Mathieu Ceridori in his Century CR7 has been performing solidly.
05:12A run of results that reads 6.869 has him seventh.
05:16The Frenchman hasn't won a special in five years.
05:18He'll be hoping to change that in week two.
05:21A very nasty moment for former champion Nani Roma and Simon Witts.
05:26We were there, we'd lost the point.
05:28We went to get it to start again.
05:30We already had the arrow, and when we found it, we hit it.
05:34I had this rock in front of me, I couldn't see it coming.
05:37So that's it, we're waiting for the truck.
05:39It's a shame.
06:08But this year could be different.
06:09Third on the stage, third overall.
06:13We had a very good day.
06:16Driving, I would say, was by far my best day of the rally.
06:23Nasser thought he had taken Dach's first win
06:25until he was slapped with a ten-minute penalty for losing his spare wheel.
06:30We didn't recognize that we'd lose one spare wheel.
06:33Before that, the penalty is ten minutes.
06:36All the job made by Nasser is for nothing.
06:39That handed victory on the day to Seth Quintero by a single second.
06:43Two wins for the young American,
06:45although in neither has he crossed the line quickest.
06:47They all count, though.
06:48More importantly, we have had six stages,
06:50and every single one of them has been won by a Toyota
06:53with five different drivers.
06:55Lattekin on the prologue.
06:56He continues to make the running overall.
06:58Then Quintero, who lies ninth.
07:00Batushka won the Crono.
07:01Valiawa on Tuesday.
07:02Yazeed yesterday, and he's ten minutes behind Hank.
07:05Matthias Ekström is going very steady indeed.
07:11It's a long and difficult stage.
07:13It seems navigation was tricky.
07:15Should I be polite, or can I be rude?
07:19Do what you want.
07:20No, man, it was fucking difficult.
07:23Even if it was, let's say, quite hard
07:25in the first half of yesterday's marathon,
07:27Martin Matsyk absolutely put the hammer down today,
07:29winning for the second day running
07:31and leading the Dakar by almost two hours.
07:33Mitchell van den Brink made the most of issues
07:35for Alice Lopreisch and Vaidota Tzala
07:37to move up to second overall,
07:39but this is surely Matsyk's to lose.
07:49Well, as you guys know,
07:50my first few days of Dakar this year have been pretty rough.
07:54All I can do is take every day the best I can
07:57and make the most out of it
07:58and also try to gain from it
08:00and be a better driver, navigator, and team
08:03and do the best I can to progress in the future.
08:06It's two in a row for Chaleco.
08:08Bikes, T3s, and now T4s.
08:10He's won on them all, Lopez Contardo,
08:12but overall, it's a lost cause
08:14because rookie Brock is top of the tree.
08:16It's his first time here, but he's proved he's ready.
08:18Polar is two of the leading three,
08:20but Brock is best with his wingman, Eddie.
08:22Yassir Seydan won in the challenges today,
08:24and after Yassir's win in the ultimates class,
08:26that's twice the Saudis blew the others away.
08:28Paul Spearings was close, but couldn't get past,
08:30which means Kabil Yassir and Pertagherini
08:33are in command in the overall standing,
08:35unless they disappear in week two like Houdini,
08:37but that looks unlikely as their lead's expanding.
08:41Week one is done.
08:42It's a rest day here tomorrow, and they need it.
08:44Dakar is the rally school of hard knocks.
08:46Just ask Brit biker Robbie Wallace.
08:48Catch you next time, rally fans.
08:59Come on.
09:08I've just had a big crash.
09:10You had a crash?
09:12I think I've been knocked out.
09:14The red button is for rescue.
09:16Well, let's phone first. OK.
09:18PHONE RINGS
09:22Hello, this is rescue team.
09:24I need help. OK, what's the issue?
09:26You're running the toughest race in the world,
09:29and this can happen, like, things...
09:32I know, but it took me so long to get this far.
09:39Heading towards hospital for a CT scan.
09:42So, fingers crossed, we'll be in good shape.
09:47Inshallah.