Dakar 2024, motorcycles: Tosha Schareina wins the prologue stage and Barreda suffers a fall

We have been warning about this for months. Valencian Tosha Schareina should be considered one of the favorites to win the Dakar. There are 12 stages left and the Dakar has just started, but Tosha has hit the table just to get started. On his first day on an official motorcycle in Dakar, with the Monst6er Energy Honda Team, the 28-year-old rider (03/06/1995, Valencia) started to lead the best and took his first stage win in winning the 27-kilometer Dakar prologue held in AlUla, Saudi Arabia.

Tosha experienced just one year of meteoric rise. After shining again in the second week of his second Dakar, among the best with private motorcycles. He got the chance to ride an official Honda in the World Championship. He was on trial, but he quickly made it clear that they should make him ‘full-time permanent’ by placing 2nd in his first World Cup event with Honda, in Mexico, and winning his second race in Argentina . He makes it clear that his nerves cannot control him.

Calm, with a lot of head, something key to being among the best among the Dakar motorcycles, Tosha went out without thinking about the pressure, just wanting to enjoy what could be the opportunity of his life. “I just want to go out and drive.” And the formula worked for him. Honda gave him an official motorcycle for the Dakar and despite keeping his feet on the ground, he made it clear that he wanted to fight for victory. “I’d be lying to you if I said I wasn’t thinking about winning,” he told MD weeks ago. And one day was enough for him to sign his first victory. He achieved this with the same plan: going out without thinking about anything but driving. And he nailed it on a day that served as an appetizer for 12 stages of the world’s toughest race.

This time, the prologue is not a closed sand circuit like last year. It’s a Dakar stage format reduced to just 28 kilometers, with hidden dangers typical of any day, where competitors have to accelerate between rocks, over sand tracks and outdoor sections of the road.

Unlike other categories, in motorcycles the prologue counts as time for the general classification. so, Tosha Schareina He became the first leader of the Dakar 2024 in motorcycles after this first victory in the Dakar. He won with a 12″ margin over Daniel Sanders (GasGas) and the driver ofand Hero Motorsports Ross Branch. Adrien Van Beveren It was the second Honda in 4th place at 24 seconds and Luciano Benavides, current W2RC FIM World Champion, was 5th at 26 seconds. Sam Sunderland (GasGas) is 6th in 28″, Quintanilla (Honda) was 7th at 47″, Toby Price (KTM) was 8th at 51″ and Kevin Benavides is 9th to 56″.

The fall of Barreda and Santolino begins on the 13th

Joan Barreda started the Dakar on the wrong foot. The driver from Torreblanca, who this year started his new career with Hero Motorsports, almost certainly this will be his last Dakar, started the 2024 Dakar with a fall. The active rider with the most stage wins (29, 4 short of the record), sets his sights on Top-5 or the podium and goes for the stage win record with a bike that can shine, even with a level that is relatively low. at best. However, it started with a crash on Friday’s short prologue stage.

Joan ‘Bang Bang’ was able to push through the scare and finish 1’25”, a distance that doesn’t matter with so many stages ahead. This will also allow her to start from far back in stage 1 this Saturday , a perfect scenario to keep the front riders on track and accelerate full throttle towards stage victory, a first for Hero.

Lorenzo Santolino from Salamanca was 13th at 1’16”. The Sherco rider wants to improve his 6th position in 2021 with a Top-5 almost like a victory for him. He will try, as always , with his great perseverance.