Australian motorcyclist Daniel Sanders has taken a major step towards winning the Dakar Rally, emerging victorious on the brutal seventh stage to match the achievement of the compatriot he hopes to emulate as champion.
The 30-year-old Red Bull KTM rider Sanders, who's dominated the two-week race from the opening prologue in Saudi Arabia, opened up his biggest lead yet - 15 minutes 33 seconds - as he took victory on the tough 412km circuit around Al Duwadimi.
It was 'Chucky's' fifth stage win in the 2025 edition, a feat that matches his friend and former teammate Toby Price, the only ever Australian winner of the Dakar who also won five specials in 2016, when he took the first of his two title wins.
Sadly, on the day Sanders was equalling his record, Price, now competing in the cars' category, and co-pilot Sam Sunderland had to withdraw from the race on medical advice over the Briton's concussion, which he'd suffered on stage five and which had worsened the following day.
The duo had been 24th in the overall standings when they called it a day.
Ninth to start in the bikes' race, Sanders saved his big push until late in what was considered one of the key, most demanding stages to grab his nap-hand of victories.
He eventually finished three-and-a-half minutes quicker than the impressive Spanish rookie Edgar Canet, with the Australian's nearest pursuer Tosha Schareina, third.
That secured the Yarra Valley rider a substantial quarter-of-an-hour advantage over Monster Energy Honda's Schareina, which keeps him as overwhelming favourite to win the crown on Friday.
"It was very fast, technical at the start and we had a lot of rain, but it was only at the start, so there was a pretty wet line to see in front, and I just had to kind of correct and not follow the mistakes with the navigation," said Sanders.
"So it wasn't too bad. The focus was good, speed was good, head was good, so it was much better day compared to yesterday.
"We made a couple of little clickers on the suspension, that made it a bit stiffer for the sand, so that helped a lot today, made it a little easier to ride, so it was a pretty cruisey day.
"We're here to try and win, and we're trying to do everything we can to put ourselves in the best position for that."
In the cars' race, Henk Lategan's overall lead was slashed to 21 seconds as a road book note error caused many drivers at the front of the field to lose their bearings, forcing Dakar organisers to erase any gains or losses for a 20km stretch.
South African Lategan finished 15th, with his closest challenger in the overall standings, local hero Yazeed Al-Rajhi, coming seventh to throw the race wide open.
With Reuters
