A well-deserved day of rest: the Dakar-2024 competitors make a stopover in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, on Saturday, halfway through a rally-raid marked by damage and disappointment for the favorites for the final title.
The participants of the 46th edition of the Dakar left on January 5 from the archaeological remains of Al-Ula, dating from the Nabatean era, to continue with three long special stages, many rocky tracks… with punctures, before being shaken in the endless dunes of the Empty Quarter.
For his first week, Frenchman Sébastien Loeb (Prodrive) was on alternating current, between bad luck and outbursts.
“We had a good first week, we lost 25 minutes on a triple puncture and around fifteen on a broken link but apart from that we didn’t have any particular problems. Thirty minutes late (overall), it’s a lot but it’s not lost. We remain in the match,” said the nine-time world rally champion, 3rd overall.
“It won’t be easy to come back to these Audis which are very efficient but we will try to keep them under pressure,” maintained the Alsatian, still in search of his first coronation on the Dakar.
Despite his victory – the 2nd since the start of the edition – during a daunting 6th stage, the hybrid Audis of Carlos Sainz (1st) and Mattias Ekström (2nd at 20 min) in fact held up unlike the last year.
In the formidable dunes of the Empty Quarter, the pilots demonstrated strategy to face 600 km of zigzags in the sandy colossi of “Rub Al-Khali” (in French “Quart Empty”).
This “48H Chrono” was fatal for several favorites, starting with the five-time winner Nasser Al-Attiyah (Prodrive). Although he avoided retirement, the double title holder is so far behind (2h 40 min) that he should serve as assistance for his teammate Sébastien Loeb.
“I will try to help Seb and be behind him, so that at least he can win this Dakar. I will do my best for him, so that he wins, because we are a team,” assured the Qatari, who will also team up with Loeb at Dacia next season.
Stéphane Peterhansel (Audi) also ruined his chances of winning a 15th title on the Dakar (3h 23min), victim on Thursday of a hydraulic failure which prevented him from operating the jack to change a wheel, and which deprived him of direction assisted on his racing car.
The Saudi Yazeed Al-Rajhi retired on Thursday after rolling over several times and seriously damaging his Toyota.
On the motorcycle side, the first week will have put the organisms to the test. Several favorites and outsiders have thrown in the towel, like the British biker Sam Sunderland (GasGas), two Dakars in his pocket, or the American Skyler Howes (Honda, 3rd last year)
The general motorcycle classification is more open: 4 bikers are grouped within 15 minutes. The American Ricky Brabec (Honda), winner in 2020, dominates the debates, followed very closely by the Botswanan Ross Branch (Hero).
And a French chance: Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren (Honda) ranks 3rd after his success in the “48H Chrono”, thus signing his 4th stage victory on the Dakar since his first participation in 2016.
The strategy of his first week “wasn’t bad”, concedes the three-time winner of the Le Touquet enduro, who loved the dunes of the Empty Quarter.
“I’m going to attack the second week by opening (the special), we’ll have to be super strong. Nothing has been done, there are plenty of pitfalls, we will have to avoid them,” underlined Adrien Van Beveren, who will take advantage of his day of rest to recover with massages and an osteopathy session.
The Chilean Ignacio Cornejo, already two victories in this Dakar, is at the foot of the podium, just over 14 minutes behind.
The rest promises to be just as tough until the end: already on Sunday with 483 km of special stages for the 7th stage which will once again take the competitors to Al-Duwadimi.
The penultimate stage on Thursday, between Al-Ula and Yanbu, on the shores of the Red Sea, will be the biggest part of the second week before the epilogue: inhospitable soils, again, which should hamper the competitors with numerous punctures during the 480 km of special.
SEE ALSO – Makélélé, Pastore, Rai…The most beautiful goals of Paris SG against RC Lens
