The first serious problems for the Matador came on a tough third stage, when he had to stop for almost half an hour due to a broken
I’ve been dodging trouble for three days, but sooner or later the Dakar pays the bills. Carlos Sainz lost half an hour in the third leg of the heist, contested between Alula and Ha’il, when he ran over a rock on the stony ground at kilometer 240 and broke the left rear suspension bushing. The man from Madrid and Lucas Cruz had to get out of the car, go replace the part and, with the help of Stéphane Peterhansel who arrived at that moment to act as assistant, continue with as little loss of time as possible.
In that incident alone, he gave up 26 minutes with a Nasser Al-Attiyah left to do damage control alone, aware of what his direct competitors had suffered in the early days. Both Loeb and Peterhansel lost a world on Monday, so this incident from Sainz on Tuesday puts him back as the overwhelming favourite. Again, you can use your conservative no-attack tactics to try to keep your Hilux as little as possible.
This third stage was a tough one, starting with mud in the camp and uncomfortable rain early in the day. These conditions had a big impact on the competitors, who struggled in the gravel area but also in the sand, due to the difficulty of riding on such a slippery surface. Due to the high number of incidents, medical helicopters were effectively unavailable by the latter part of the day, at the eighth checkpoint of the day, so the stage was neutralized at kilometer 377 and ended with the differences at that point.
In the end, given what was seen, Al-Attiyah was the big winner of the day. Sainz came in 36 minutes behind the Qatari, who still had to take almost 21 with the winner of the day, Guerlain Chicherit. With this result, the reigning champion is first overall with 13:20 ahead of Yazeed Al-Rahji and 20:45 ahead of Peterhansel, who is back in contention. El Matador went from the leader to 33:11 behind his big rival for the ‘Touareg’.
If it was a difficult stage for the cars, it was no less so for the motorcyclists. Ricky Brabec, also one of the big favourites, became the second big loser of this edition of the Dakar, after a spectacular fall at kilometer 274 of the day’s special, when he had not yet neutralized himself. The 2020 winner had to be evacuated by helicopter, albeit conscious and slightly, but with severe neck pain that made his abandonment essential. He joined the list of illustrious victims, along with that of Sam Sunderland.
These incidents benefited Daniel Sanders, determined to be the reference of this first week. After what happened in the first stage, he took this third with authority despite the introduction of bonuses, one of the great novelties of this Dakar. Two of his main rivals, Skyler Howes and especially Mason Klein, had them in their favour, but not enough to withstand heavy pressure from the Australian from GasGas, who went on to lead the overall standings with just over two minutes left.
To prevent opening the track from becoming synonymous with direct falling, it has been determined this year that there will be benefits in some phases for those who do so. So the first gets 1.5 seconds/km; 1 second/km to the second and 0.5 sec/km to the third, so the first fill-up saves a total of 6 seconds. Despite this, Sanders gritted his teeth and was able to take on his rivals.
Who had more problems was Joan Barreda. After the blow he suffered on Monday, which caused a fracture in a phalanx of the big toe of his left foot, the one with the switch did not go for the stage victory and actually ended up 11 and a half minutes behind Sanders, with some in a little more then drops to fifth place 10 minutes later. There’s still a lot left.
Stage 4 next Wednesday, the Ha’il loop, will be quite a challenge for navigation with the arrival of the pure desert. The huge sand mountains will cause many problems for those who do not know how to interpret the roadbook properly, so it is expected that this will be one of the first major challenges of this Dakar for those who continue.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
