Dakar 2024, live | Follow Stage 3 of the rally with Carlos Sainz

Sam Sunderland, one of the favorites for victory, left the Dakar 2024 in stage 3. The GasGas rider, the 2022 Dakar champion, stopped for more than 3 and a half hours at kilometer 11 while trying to fix a mechanical failure on his motorcycle.

The 34-year-old Briton has 2023 to forget after winning the 2022 Dakar. And now, his bad luck continues. Sam Sunderland stage 1 of the Dakar 2023 was abandoned due to a serious fall and this year he seeks his revenge. He suffered a lot in 2023. He missed the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge after suffering a fractured tibia in his last training session. He suffered another crash and retirement in the Sonora Rally and also had to retire in the Desafío Ruta 40 and the Rallye du Maroc when he fell ill. He wants to wipe the slate clean and forget about a bitter 2023, starting 2024 in a big way. BUT BAD LUCK CONTINUES FOR SAM.

Kevin Benavides, current Dakar champion, is 11th overall in Dakar after two stages in 23’50. Needs improvement. He arrives with a broken fibula he suffered in December, but is confident he can fight. And in this third stage he began to increase his pace. Kevin passed km 201 with the second fastest time, 1’23” behind the best, Pablo Quintanilla (Honda).

For his part, Joan Barreda also improved compared to the previous days. The one from Torreblanca, in his first year at Hero, in this stage 3 passed the same point at km 201 in 3rd position at 1’25”. He needs to improve because he is almost half an hour behind the leader in general .classification after only two stages, although aware that its best terrain is yet to come: the sands.

At kilometer 135, in the absence of De Mevius reaching this point and improving Al-Rajhi’s times due to his excellent starting position, the Saudi dominates this point and Sainz regains ground with respect to Loeb and Nasser.

Carlos Sainz seemed to react after losing more than 4 minutes in the last kilometer 96. He recovered a minute in the next 40 kilometers. Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz passed jm 135, 3’33” behind Al-Rajhi, surrendered 2’26 behind Al-Attiyah and regained all the ground with respect to Loeb. Sainz just passed by 13 seconds behind the Frenchman Reaction from ‘The matador’.

Carlos Sainz did not start stage 3 of Dakar 2024 well. The Madrid driver, leader of the general car classification, passed the checkpoint at kilometer 38, 53″ behind the best, Dumas, about 40 behind Al- Attiyah, Loeb and Al -Rajhi, who started very well. But at km 96, Sainz lost by 4’24”, passing about 3 minutes behind Al-Attiyah and Loeb…

De Mevius takes the lead on that point. We warned yesterday in our report that this could be the Belgian’s big day, as he started very far back after opening the track yesterday and could once again put on a good show by fully accelerating with his Toyota from a good start position for him.

We started direct stage 3, with the bikes already halfway through the day and the cars already on the track. It’s time to experience the feeling of Dakar in its purest state. The fight for all categories seems exciting, with Carlos Sainz as the new leader of the Dakar 2024 in cars