Sand, Setbacks, and Surging Emotions for Van Beveren and Sanders
Even champions are only human. Daniel Sanders opened the 2025 season in emphatic fashion, pairing a Dakar victory with the world championship and establishing himself as the man to beat. His commanding form sparked fears that the Australian ace and his KTM would dominate the looped stage starting and finishing in Yanbu. Those concerns seemed justified this morning, as Sanders awoke with a comfortable lead of more than six minutes over Ricky Brabec.
However, rally raid is unforgiving. Despite his technical mastery, physical resilience, and razor-sharp navigation at speed, Sanders’ challenge unravelled 138 kilometres into the special when a crash left him nursing a painful left shoulder. Displaying trademark grit, “Chucky” pushed on to the finish but haemorrhaged nearly half an hour in the process—likely extinguishing Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s hopes of outright victory this year.
Yet the Austrian squad still has cards to play looking ahead to 2026. Luciano Benavides remains firmly in contention after starting the stage ninth and coming agonisingly close to victory. With just three days remaining, the Argentinian has his sights set on the coveted Bedouin Trophy. To claim it, he must erase a slender 20-second deficit and prevail in a tense, unpredictable duel with Monster Energy Honda HRC rider Ricky Brabec.
Stage honours went to Adrien Van Beveren, whose Dakar journey this year has been a true roller-coaster. On the road to Bisha, the Frenchman finally broke through, claiming his first special of the edition on a symbolic day, as the bivouac paid tribute to Thierry Sabine—the visionary founder of the Paris–Dakar and the Enduro du Touquet. It was at Touquet that Van Beveren first rose to prominence, winning three consecutive titles between 2014 and 2016. His seventh Dakar stage victory lifts him to sixth overall, now sitting roughly an hour behind the American leader.
Serradori Shines as Al Attiyah Reasserts Control
Mathieu Serradori has long proven he is more than a romantic outsider. When he claimed his maiden stage win in 2020, he was viewed as a plucky underdog—racing a two-wheel-drive car, quoting Jean-Louis Schlesser, and occasionally stealing the spotlight from the sport’s heavyweights. Far removed from the top of the hierarchy, he nevertheless carved out a unique identity.
Fast forward to today, and Serradori has elevated his game. After switching to a 4×4 T1 CR7, he secured a career-best sixth place overall last season. While his 2025 campaign has been inconsistent, the French Riviera native struck gold on the 420-kilometre special to Bisha. Outpacing Nasser Al Attiyah by more than six minutes, Serradori surged four positions up the standings to fifth overall, now just 33 minutes behind the Qatari—firmly swimming with the sharks.
In the broader title fight, however, the marathon stage belonged to Al Attiyah. The Dacia driver delivered a masterclass in the dunes, reclaiming the overall lead in emphatic fashion. With only 1 minute 10 seconds separating the provisional top three yesterday, Al Attiyah transformed a tightly contested battle into a commanding advantage—opening a 12-minute gap over Henk Lategan, who ran out of fuel and made a costly navigation error, and extending his margin to 12 minutes 50 seconds over Nani Roma, who remains on the provisional podium.
The podium is now back within reach for the second Dacia Sandrider, driven by Sébastien Loeb. Capitalising on misfortune for Carlos Sainz and Mattias Ekström, Loeb climbed to fourth overall, 23 minutes behind his teammate, as the Dakar narrative continues to twist with every kilometre.
The RacerViews info
By Matt Hancock
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