Ricky Brabec hits first and wants his second Dakar

After the sad news of the death of Carles Falcon, motorcycle riders want to offer a nice special special to the 45-year-old from Tarragona in his tribute. They have to move on, as the Catalans want. And they continued in a race that was still very close, although Brabec took a step forward at a crucial moment to go for his 2nd touareg.

The equality is immense. two days ago, Ricky and Ross branch They were separated by just 1 second after nearly 2,800 kilometers of friction. A day later, on stage 8, the American lost some time compared to his rivals but increased his margin on the Hero driver, up to 42 seconds, with Nacho Cornejo at 4’21” and Adrien Van Beveren at 11’58”. Everything is still open and anything can happen. Ricky Brabec came out on stage 9 wanting to end the game early and get all the loot. And the 2020 Dakar champion has struck the first blow for his second title, albeit uncertain.

Brabec took advantage of his excellent 7th place in the starting order on stage 9 to continue attacking from the start. With 4 days left, the American from Honda went all out. Throughout the special he was taking many minutes from all his rivals. An example of this is the times set by the competitors at kilometer 303, with 114 kilometers remaining until the end of the special. Brabec took 6’39” from his great rival, Ross Branch and took 4’15” from Van Beveren, opening the track, where Cornejo fell to 10’52”. However, finishing Van Beveren reacting and winning the stage , keeping their options alive with 3 days left in a general classification where anything is still possible.

The general is still strict

Van Beveren won stage 9 with a 42-second margin over Ricky Brabec, 6’44” from Toby Price, with Ross Branch at 7’09”, Kevin Benavides over 8 minutes away and José Ignacio Cornejo surrendered at 10′ 07″ .

In this way, the general classification with 3 stages remaining remains Brabec at the front, but with a wider advantage. Branch is now 7’09” in second position and Van Beveren is third at 11’16”. Cornejo, in his loss this Tuesday, was 13’46”, still has options. Meanwhile, Kevin Benavides seems too far away to think about reaffirming his title (at 28’05”).

This Wednesday, stage 10 will be key, the last chance to attack for Brabec’s chasers. Van Beveren will have a harder time opening with his teammate Ricky behind. Everything is still open, but Brabec is quite close to his second crown.