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Guillaume de Mévius (Toyota) finished in second place in his first Dakar at the highest level as the best debutant. Frenchman Sébastien Loeb and his Belgian co-driver Fabian Lurquin (Hunter) won the last stage and secured their podium place. The duo finished third.
The Mévius won the first stage of the 46th Dakar and was therefore the first leader. For a while, because the next day teammate Yazeed Al Rajhi (Toyota Hilux) took over. When he acted a little too aggressively during the 48-hour stage and crashed, the experienced Sainz took over. Sainz fought a fierce battle with Sébastien Loeb, until he suffered no fewer than five punctures on Thursday and had to deal with a suspension problem. Sainz wins his fourth Dakar at the age of 61. In 2010 he did this with a VW-Touareg. In 2018, the Spaniard won with a Peugeot 3008. He achieved his third overall victory behind the wheel of a MINI before winning with an Audi in 2024. He won his fourth Dakar regularly and with the help of his teammates Peterhansel and Ekström. Sainz did not win a single stage in this edition. In seventeen Dakars he won 42 stages.
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The Mévius is a close second and can take its place on the podium between Sainz and Loeb. The latter will have to wait at least another year before he can wipe out the blank and win the Dakar for the first time. The Frenchman competed for the overall victory for a long time, but he was unable to overcome the bad luck on Thursday. Just when he and his Belgian co-pilot Fabian Lurquin were thinking about giving up, a Chinese team came to help them. When they saw Moraes in trouble on the way to the finish, their hopes for the podium flared up again. Loeb punctured five times on Thursday, finished on his rim but ultimately made it onto the podium in third. On Friday he tried everything. Loeb won the stage but is 4:47 short of finishing second. With De Mévius and Lurquin, there are two Belgians on the final podium.
Brabec achieves second overall victory among motorcyclists
American Ricky Brabec (Honda) won the Dakar rally among motorcyclists in Saudi Arabia for the second time in his career after 2020. His leadership position was no longer in danger in the twelfth and final stage.
The 32-year-old Brabec has an almost eleven-minute lead over Ross Branch (Hero) from Botswana in the final score. Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren (Honda) completes the podium at 12:25. The Argentinian Kevin Benavides (KTM) won the final stage, over 176 kilometers with start and finish in Yanbu, and finished fourth in the rankings. Jérôme Martiny (Husqvarna) is at the finish of the Dakar for the third time in as many editions. The Belgian finished 25th overall and 2nd in his class.
© AFP
This 46th edition of the Dakar for motorcycles was overshadowed by the death of Carles Falcon. The 45-year-old Spaniard had a serious crash in the second stage and died from his injuries more than a week later. From the very first stage, Brabec was at the top of the rankings. Ross Branch (Hero) won stage 1 with Brabec in his wake. Branch then took the lead for three stages, after which Cornejo Florimo (Honda) took over for one day. From stage 5, Branch took the lead and held it until the final day. Although sometimes it was very close. At the end of the seventh stage, the difference between Brabec and Branch was just one second.
Brabec, Branch and Van Beveren (Honda) provided a beautiful and intense battle during one prologue and twelve stages over 4,727 competitive kilometers. For the 32-year-old American it is his second overall victory in the Dakar. In 2020 he won the very first Dakar in Saudi Arabia.
Of the four Belgians who started, three made it to the finish. Jérôme Martiny took on the adventure in this edition and rode the Dakar without assistance. Martiny did excellently and finished 25th, his best result ever in the Dakar.
Joris Van Dyck (Husqvarna) finished in 52nd place in the final stage. In his first participation in the Dakar, Van Dyck finished 56th. And Pierre Saeys (Husqvarna) is also at the finish of his very first Dakar. Saeys finished in 66th place. In the final stage he had the 73rd fastest time.