Tosha, temporary winner of stage 8, but the Dakar is complicated

There are 4 more stages to finishl Dakar 2025and on motorcycles, Daniel Sanders seems to have power. The Australian landed on his feet with the right race strategy after his best position in the prologue stage, and from there, he dominated the race with an iron hand. And in stage 8, the day where Tosha Schareina, 2nd classified in general, may attempt to attack Daniel Two places behind his starting position, Sanders held on to take the title seriously.

The Valencian appears today as the virtual winner of the day waiting for a devolution of time for Van Beveren and Luciano Benavides, who stopped for half an hour to take care of Pablo Quintanilla, who abandoned. Despite this, things seemed tight, as Luciano crossed the finish line in 29 minutes and Van Beveren in 32. If Tosha’s victory is finally confirmed, it will be a bittersweet victory for the Spaniard.

In fact, facing the general classification, Schareina prefers not to win in order not to open the track and follow in the footsteps of his colleague. Van Beveren and Luciano Benavides to try to go out on the attack again.

Fewer and fewer options

It is true that there are 4 stages left, there are still many kilometers and any fall, navigation error or mechanical failure could leave the Australian without the crown and give it to Tosha. But for now, the inertia that the race brings is directed at the success of the pilot of KTM.

Tosha He keeps trying, but he knows that with each passing day, his options are diminishing. And more on the finish that the organization drew for this year. The race will end with 3 days of pure sand at ‘Empty Quarter’, an area where it is not expected that many changes in the general classification may occur in motorcycles. He thinks Toshawho knows that this stage 8, as well as stage 9 this Tuesday, is key before the race enters the world’s largest sand desert.

However, the Valencian from Honda could only beat his rival for the title by 3 minutes and 30 seconds. Not enough. Today, Schareina is 12’30” behind Sanders, which is even worse, the KTM rider will start from the back on stage 9, in 4th position, with the option to keep increasing his margin and continue in playing with the management of his cushion.

Another good day for Edgar Canet; bad luck for Santolino

After being amazed at the 2nd position in the stage 8 of the Dakar 2025, the Catalan Edgar Canet, only 19 years old, again had a very good stage, finishing in the 6th position, losing only 4 minutes and 57 seconds compared to to the provisional winner, Schareina , and was able to increase the lead in its category (Rally2) to 31 minutes and 11 seconds with respect to its rival Ebster.

So Edgar moved up to 8th place in the overall motorcycle standings, 1 hour and 22′ behind the leader.

The man from Salamanca is even worse Lorenzo Santolinowho started in 9th place overall. The Spaniard had to stop more than an hour and 10 minutes after km 300 of a 483 km timed special due to electrical problems with his Sherco.