DAKAR 2025, STAGE ONE

The Dakar Rally got underway with its first test of the 2025 event in Saudi Arabia.  It was 413 kilometres of racing that began and ended in Bisha.

Ricky Brabec led in the early kilometres to just drop a little time towards the finish to lose 2′04″ to eventual stage winner Daniel Sanders.  Skyler Howes had an eventful first stage as he stopped to assist Sebastian Bühler who had fallen off badly at the 68km mark but at the end of the stage that time was reinstated to the American. Overall it was a positive day for Howes that saw him finish fourth as he maintained a consistent rhythm behind Brabec over the latter half of the stage.

Mason Klein did well to finish within the top 20 but wasn’t happy with that. Jason Argubright had similar feeling and is looking forward to tomorrow, which is the beginning of the  48 Hour Chrono This means 947 km of riding broken up with a night sleeping on the desert floor, food rations which include breakfast muesli, a hot dinner and drinks and no outside mechanical assistance. They’ll also have no idea where they are positioned in the stage standings relative to each other as the darkness and cold conditions descend upon them north of Bisha. 

Ricky Brabec: “Stage one is in the books. It was good to get a big stage under our belts even though it’s only one of twelve. I’m happy to be at the finish of stage one, now we’e going to get some rest and get ready for the chrono stage that happens tomorrow. I think it’s about 950 kilometres, so two days stuck in the desert with no assistance. I think today we did pretty good, tomorrow is not going to be easy but I think we’ll have to keep an eye on the situation out there.”

Skyler Howes: “I was catching up to Sebastian and was in his dust and then the next thing our GPS was making a siren noise and I could see he had just picked himself up and was injured. I stopped with him and hit the rescue button as he had broken his collarbone. I spent a few minutes there on the side of the trail and then I hopped back in behind Ricky where it was just super dusty for the rest of the day.”

Mason Klein: “Today the camera broke again before the refuel. It was a massive struggle for navigation today due to the traffic of other riders. I struggle a lot when following other people. Of course I’m not very happy with the results today because I know this is just an example of me having a rough day. Also I may have a knee problem now after popping it today on course. The bike is going strong still so we will keep pushing. Good news is for the chrono stage the rally GP class starts in reverse order so hopefully I can open and get some bonus time.”

OVERALL STANDINGS

1. (AUS) DANIEL SANDERS RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING 04H 41′ 27”
2. (USA) RICKY BRABEC MONSTER ENERGY HONDA HRC + 00H 02′ 04”
3. (BWA) ROSS BRANCH HERO MOTOSPORTS TEAM RALLY + 00H 02′ 26”
4. (USA) SKYLER HOWES MONSTER ENERGY HONDA HRC + 00H 04′ 07”
5. (ESP) TOSHA SCHAREINA MONSTER ENERGY HONDA HRC + 00H 04′ 42”
6. (ARG) LUCIANO BENAVIDES RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING + 00H 10′ 02”
7. (CHL) PABLO QUINTANILLA MONSTER ENERGY HONDA HRC + 00H 11′ 06”
8. (FRA) ADRIEN VAN BEVEREN MONSTER ENERGY HONDA HRC + 00H 14′ 44”
9. (CHL) JOSE IGNACIO CORNEJO FLORIMO HERO MOTOSPORTS TEAM + 00H 18′ 09”
10. (ZAF) BRADLEY COX BAS WORLD KTM RACING TEAM + 00H 25′ 56”
11. (ESP) LORENZO SANTOLINO SHERCO RALLY FACTORY + 00H 30′ 06”
12. (CZE) MARTIN MICHEK ORION – MOTO RACING GROUP + 00H 30′ 07”
13. (AUT) TOBIAS EBSTER BAS WORLD KTM RACING TEAM + 00H 30′ 29”
14. (SVK) STEFAN SVITKO SLOVNAFT RALLY TEAM + 00H 31′ 51”
15. (ESP) EDGAR CANET RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING+ 00H 32′ 12”
16. (PRT) RUI GONÇALVES SHERCO RALLY FACTORY + 00H 33′ 24”
17. (ARG) KEVIN BENAVIDES RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING+ 00H 34′ 23”
18. (CZE) MILAN ENGEL ORION – MOTO RACING GROUP + 00H 34′ 30”
19. (FRA) NEELS THERIC KOVE FACTORY RACING + 00H 34′ 58”
20. (USA) MASON KLEIN KOVE FACTORY RACING + 00H 35′ 11”
21. (USA) JACOB ARGUBRIGHT RS MOTO HONDA RALLY TEAM + 00H 55′ 12”