The second part of the two-day marathon stage tested the riders today following no team assistance at the AlUla bivouac last night. The riders were allowed just 30 minutes to work on their bikes to prepare them for today’s 428km special stage. Much like yesterday, 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 total of 843 kilometers.
Following his victory yesterday, Daniel Sanders was tasked with opening stage five. While he earned nearly six minutes in bonus time, an eight-minute penalty for speeding dropped him to 12th place. Despite this he retains a seven-minute overall lead in the rally. The victory for the day went to hiss teammate Luciano Benavidez, who started far enough back in the pack to concentrate more on riding than navigating.
Luciano Benavides: “That was a really good day for me, starting from 14th helped as I was able to catch a lot of the riders in front of me but I could still see some tracks. I feel good on the bike and I’m happy with my riding, so we are at a good place before the rest day. Strategy will play a big part next week as you have to judge which stages will be the best to try and make up time on, and which ones to take it steady on. I feel like I am still in the fight, there’s a long way to go to the finish and I’m in a really good rhythm now so I can wait to see what the next week will bring.”
Ricky Brabec: “It’s the way the rally is going for us, but all is good. 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 favour 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.”
Skyler Howes: “Today was frustrating for me, I started so far back that I started relying on the tracks in front of me for navigation, which is not really a smart thing to do. But when you’re in the back like that and because we lost a lot of time yesterday, I was pushing super hard to catch back up some time today. Around 150 kilometers I got to an area where all the tracks kind of disappeared and I was behind the road book enough that I went down the wrong canyon and had to circle back. I probably lost about six minutes just in that one little spot. I did pretty good after the refueling, I knew the navigation was going to be tricky again and there were a few areas that I had to kind of wander a little bit to find the good way, but I didn’t have to turn around or anything.”
Mason Klein posted this yesterday: “I was riding in a lot of pain this morning but I knew this was a stage I could do well in. Near km 200 I started going blind and I couldn’t see the floor I stopped a couple times then eventually I couldn’t navigate anymore because I couldn’t see even my Roadbook in front of me. I started crying because I was really scared my eyes wouldn’t get better. At the refuel I talked to some medical people and there was nothing they could do.
I finally felt like I had re entered the race today and yet again some stupid thing with my body. I’ve never experienced this before. I stopped the first time because I thought it was my goggles but when I took them off I realized it was my eyes I pushed as hard as I could to keep going but ya there was nothing I could do I couldn’t see the ground and it was getting way too dangerous.
I promise no one is more upset than me about how this rally is going. I came here in really good physical condition probably my best I was here to win and now I can’t even finish a stage without needing to slow down or even stop. I know I belong on the podium but I could have never expected something like this it was really scary for me.
After the refuel I rode extremely slow to not crash I hit many rocks and bushes even going very slow and it was bad but then near the end my eyes actually started to clear up.
Basically it was like looking through a cloud or a sandstorm everything went white. I think it’s possible that the wind was getting through my goggles because they were a little more loose than normal for me. After I slowed down my eyes got better. They are actually already much better. I imagine I can fix the problem for tomorrow though and hopefully should be ok I went to medical for my arm also because it is still hurting but it’s obviously much better than before.
It’s obviously really embarrassing to be riding in the back every day but I think in the coming days I should be able to get some stage wins at least.
For extended coverage of Dakar 2025, click here.
STAGE 5
1. (ARG) LUCIANO BENAVIDES RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING 04H 53′ 00”
2. (FRA) ADRIEN VAN BEVEREN MONSTER ENERGY HONDA HRC + 00H 00′ 47”
3. (CHL) JOSE IGNACIO CORNEJO FLORIMO HERO MOTOSPORTS + 00H 01′ 31”
4. (BWA) ROSS BRANCH HERO MOTOSPORTS TEAM RALLY + 00H 03′ 20”
5. (USA) RICKY BRABEC MONSTER ENERGY HONDA HRC + 00H 03′ 30”
6. (USA) SKYLER HOWES MONSTER ENERGY HONDA HRC + 00H 04′ 40”
7. (ESP) TOSHA SCHAREINA MONSTER ENERGY HONDA HRC + 00H 05′ 18”
8. (ESP) EDGAR CANET RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING + 00H 07′ 17”
9. (SVK) STEFAN SVITKO SLOVNAFT RALLY TEAM + 00H 09′ 57”
10. (ZAF) MICHAEL DOCHERTY BAS WORLD KTM RACING TEAM + 00H 10′ 20”
11. (CHL) PABLO QUINTANILLA MONSTER ENERGY HONDA HRC + 00H 11′ 17”
12. (AUS) DANIEL SANDERS RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING + 00H 11′ 42”
13. (ESP) LORENZO SANTOLINO SHERCO RALLY FACTORY + 00H 15′ 27”
14. (USA) JACOB ARGUBRIGHT RSMOTO HONDA RALLY TEAM + 00H 16′ 39”
15. (POL) KONRAD DABROWSKI DUUST RALLY TEAM + 00H 17′ 24”
16. (ZAF) BRADLEY COX BAS WORLD KTM RACING TEAM + 00H 17′ 31”
17. (FRA) ROMAIN DUMONTIER HONDA HRC + 00H 17′ 38”
18. (AUT) TOBIAS EBSTER BAS WORLD KTM RACING TEAM + 00H 20′ 32”
19.(BOL) DANIEL NOSIGLIA JAGER RIEJU PEDREGÀ TEAM + 00H 22′ 38”
20. (ITA) PAOLO LUCCI RSMOTO HONDA RALLY TEAM + 00H 22′ 39”
42. (USA) MASON KLEIN KOVE FACTORY RACING +00H 56′ 55”
OVERALL
1. (AUS) DANIEL SANDERS RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING 30H 20′ 15”
2. (ESP) TOSHA SCHAREINA MONSTER ENERGY HONDA HRC 30H 27′ 17”
3. (BWA) ROSS BRANCH HERO MOTOSPORTS TEAM RALLY30H 38′ 03”
4. (FRA) ADRIEN VAN BEVEREN MONSTER ENERGY HONDA HRC 30H 38′ 46”
5. (USA) SKYLER HOWES MONSTER ENERGY HONDA HRC 30H 40′ 14”
6. (USA) RICKY BRABEC MONSTER ENERGY HONDA HRC 30H 41′ 16”
7. (ARG) LUCIANO BENAVIDES RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING 30H 44′ 30”
8. (CHL) PABLO QUINTANILLA MONSTER ENERGY HONDA HRC 30H 53′ 04”
9. (CHL) JOSE IGNACIO CORNEJO FLORIMO HERO MOTOSPORTS 31H 01′ 46”
10. (ESP) EDGAR CANET RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING 31H 21′ 59”
11. (ESP) LORENZO SANTOLINO SHERCO RALLY FACTORY 31H 23′ 39”
12. (ZAF) BRADLEY COX BAS WORLD KTM RACING TEAM 31H 28′ 01”
13. (AUT) TOBIAS EBSTER BAS WORLD KTM RACING TEAM 31H 38′ 38”
14. (SVK) STEFAN SVITKO SLOVNAFT RALLY TEAM 31H 38′ 55”
15. (ZAF) MICHAEL DOCHERTYB AS WORLD KTM RACING TEAM 31H 53′ 06”
16. (FRA) ROMAIN DUMONTIER HONDA HRC 32H 11′ 46”
17. (USA) JACOB ARGUBRIGHT RSMOTO HONDA RALLY TEAM 32H 13′ 33”
18. (FRA) NEELS THERIC KOVE FACTORY RACING 32H 15′ 18”
19. (PRT) RUI GONÇALVES SHERCO RALLY FACTORY 32H 18′ 22”
20. (CZE) DUSAN DRDAJ CAJDAŠROT 32H 42′ 15”
54. (USA) MASON KLEIN KOVE FACTORY RACING 39H 25′ 44”
