The 27-year-old Husqvarna motorcyclist secured his second stage win of this year’s race as he timed 1min 2sec faster over the 358-kilometre special.
Argentina’s biker Luciano Benavides competes during the Stage 6 of the Dakar 2023 between Ha’il and Al Duwadimi, Saudi Arabia, on January 6, 2023. Picture: FRANCK FIFE / AFP
RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA – Argentinian rider Luciano Benavides, younger brother of title contender Kevin, won the ninth stage in the motorcycling category of the Dakar Rally on Tuesday.
The 27-year-old Husqvarna motorcyclist secured his second stage win of this year’s race as he timed 1min 2sec faster over the 358-kilometre special than Australian Toby Price on a KTM.
Overall leader Skyler Howes of the United States was third, 2min 57sec off the pace set by the stage winner.
Howes retains the overall lead for a fifth successive day but he enjoys a razor-thin advantage over Price of three seconds as the ultimate test of endurance enters its decisive stages with the climax on Sunday.
“It was a demanding stage, for sure, with lots of water,” said Howes.
“It was super crazy. We were going through giant rivers in the middle of the desert.
“So now we head all the way down to the Empty Quarter and I assume it’s going to be the same, with more and more challenges down there.”
Kevin Benavides is not out of the mix either as he sits in third spot, 5min 9sec adrift.
However, there were two big losers on Tuesday — Frenchman Adrien van Beveren and fourth stage winner Joan Barreda of Spain.
Van Beveren finds himself over 15 minutes off Howes, having started the day under three minutes shy of the leader, due to getting lost on the first part of the stage.
For Barreda, though, there is no coming back as the Spaniard was airlifted to hospital with back pain following a crash on his Honda.
Howes said it was a “bummer” to see Barreda lying prone in the sand while Price took it as a warning of potential perils ahead.
“I saw he had crashed and saw him laying there,” said Price regarding Barreda.
“It’s tough to get this far into the race and have that happen.”
There were conflicting reports over whether Barreda’s compatriot, three-time Dakar Rally car champion Carlos Sainz, had retired or not from the race.
The 60-year-old’s Audi came to grief just six kilometres into the stage and as a precaution he and his co-pilot Lucas Cruz were airlifted to hospital.
However, race organisers Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) issued a statement later saying: “The Spaniard wished to have a chance of resuming the race and demanded that the helicopter ambulance turn round and drop him back at his car.”
The two-time world rally champion had lost all hope of a fourth title last Friday when his front left wheel came off in an accident.
Despite suffering from chest pain as a result of the mishap he insisted on carrying on and started Tuesday’s stage languishing in 100th spot, over 29 hours in arrears of Qatari leader Nasser Al-Attiyah.
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