Controversy to the end: Tosha won but could not reach Sanders, with the Dakar within reach

This has to be the biggest day of the whole Dakar. The queen’s stage. It’s like climbing the mythical Tourmalet of the Tour de France. A day to have attacks, in fact, the last day for candidates to burn their cartridges to remove the test leaders from the top. But the fog put an end to that feeling.

The ‘Empty Quarter’ arose with heavy fog and the motorcycle riders, who woke up around 3 in the morning to face a link of more than 100 km at the start of stage 11, the penultimate of the Dakar, They found the themselves not to look “more than 10 or 20 meters,” as Sanders acknowledges. There, they had to wait for hours for the special to begin. The cloud is gone, the helicopters can fly but a decision has to be made. Then the trouble started.

Some want that, despite starting late, the stage will be held in its entirety, with 308 km of dunes planned. A very hard and long day of sand and more sand. Among them, Sanders, leader of Dakar. THOUGH Van Beveren, that from a very late starting position, he was competing for second place Tosha.

The possibility of drivers from the premier class (RallyGP) do the whole stage and those from Rally2 They will finish sooner. But in the end, after much debate and much uncertainty, with many pilots drinking almost all the water they brought with them and eating all the bars they had for the stage, David Castera, director of Dakardecided to shorten the 308 km stage to 152. half

Things just got tougher for Tosha Schareina. The Valencianallies the 17th and Sanders, general in command, the 11th. The Australian started the day with a margin over the Valencian of 16’31”. From 10th on, drivers pass the track every 2 minutes, so if Schareina took advantage of that delayed starting position to attack and chase Sanders, he could shave a maximum of 12 minutes from him to the race they are together. Not enough. The hope for Tosha is that Daniel will fail. A mechanical error, navigation error or piloting failure. One thing. But the fewer kilometers traveled on the cut sands of the ‘Empty Quarter’, the less chance of that happening.

And finally, it didn’t happen.

Tosha, heroically, with a broken collarbone, he attacked to the maximum from the beginning to finish with his head held high, standing on what in theory should be the new winner of the Dakar Rally this Friday, Daniel Sanders. The Spaniard won stage 11 of the Dakar 2025 by 33 seconds to Luciano Benavides, with a 57″ margin over his Honda teammate Adrien Van Beveren and Brabec 3’48”. Sanders managed his margin without risking to finish 7’31” behind Tosha and leave the Dakar ready for victory.

This Friday, final episode: Sanders prepares his crown

Sanders will face the final stage of the Dakar 2025 this Friday with his first Dakar title within reach. The Australian has always had unlucky luck at this event, with falls and injuries keeping him out of contention for the crown since his spectacular debut in 2021. However, this time, when Tosha needed her rival to have a stroke of bad luck, it never came.

Daniel respected the race with excellent event management from the start. In stage 11, with only 61 km of special and the drivers start on the line with their direct rivals, no differences between the best or change in position are expected. Just one procedure Sanders must complete. Only a mechanical problem with his KTM could keep him from the title.

while, Tosha reached his first Dakar podium with his teammate Van Beveren, who was 3rd, 15’50 behind the leaderwith Luciano Benavides at the box doors in 4th position.

Canet, one step away from finishing 8th in the World Cup

Edgar Canetthat before the start of the special pushed so that the pilots Rally2 They don’t have to stop before the RallyGPsince that could harm him, he finally finished stage 11 at 15’52” of the winnermaintenance 8th place overall on his debut in Dakar and retained the overall lead in Rally2 by 35’08” with Ebster. Edgar faces the final stage with the goal of finishing the job. He will debut as Rally2 champion and Top-8 in the general classification confirming him as the great star of the future of rallies around the world.