Adrien Van Beveren kept his cool to notch up his second stage victory ahead of teammates Ricky Brabec and Pablo Quintanilla at Dakar 2024 as Ricky Brabec extended his lead in the overall standings to over seven minutes.
Heading back west to AlUla, the location of the start of this year’s event, stage nine was predicted to be difficult but the Monster Energy Honda Team made light work of the swathes of sand and rocky terrain across the 417 km special with a clean sweep of the stage podium.
Despite his initial frustration yesterday at having to be third off the line today, Van Beveren’s start position didn’t seem to faze him as he quickly dispatched stage opener Kevin Benavides and then be first on the road for almost 400 km to the finish. Although having to slow towards the end to find the correct route, his reward was a sizeable chunk in bonuses of over five and a half minutes which today put him ahead of Ricky Brabec who had achieved the best time of the stage.
In what could prove to be a decisive day for the Frenchman, he has now moved up the standings to third with just over eleven minutes to claw back to the leader as the constant battle with teammate José Ignacio Cornejo for that final podium position continues.
“It was a tough day but a good one as I finally opened almost 400 km of the stage. Kevin (Benavides) was following and he was a good support as there were moments when it was really, really difficult. I tried my best and to be consistent so I’m happy with how the stage went,” the Frenchman said.
Ricky Brabec played today to perfection, by keeping his main rival in the championship hunt Ross Branch close yesterday the Californian was on the attack on the rolling dunes to finish behind Van Beveren and stretch his lead overall by seven minutes in what could be the turning point at this year’s Dakar.
“Today was possibly one of my only shots to make a big push and try to make a bit bigger gap than forty or fifty seconds so I gave it my all today,” Brabec explained. “I think tomorrow we’re probably going to have to open but if I can clean up I think we’ll be set free. In the 2020 Dakar I pulled a gap early on and this has definitely been the most stressful race of my life because it’s so close. Anyway, with a few more days to go, let’s keep the hopes up and keep charging.”
As the ancient sites of AlUla welcomed the riders again at the end of a long day, Pablo Quintanilla made a return to the stage podium in what was a much better day for the Chilean rider. Although not in the overall reckoning he can now focus on accumulating points for the World Rally-Raid Championship title and help Brabec and Van Beveren when they open the stage tomorrow.
“Finally I had a good day without any issues,” Quintanilla said. “I was feeling good in the morning so I’m happy. Today was a long stage, the first 100 km was physically demanding with many off-piste sections, camel grass and some dunes with drops. Then after the refuelling the terrain changed a little bit with rocky sections and the navigation wasn’t so easy.
My goal now is that the team wins the rally so if I can help then I’ll give my all.”
Toby Price immediately set about chasing down the four riders ahead of him. Making up excellent time to kilometer 110 and was comfortably inside the top five on the timesheets and looking to improve further. A small mistake unfortunately cost the Aussie several minutes as he made his way back to the correct route. However, with other riders making similar errors, Toby was able to get his head down and deliver a solid pace from there to the finish. Completing the day in fourth, Price retains his sixth-place position in the provisional overall standings.
“Stage nine is done and I’m really happy with how I rode today,” Price said. “The terrain was tricky – there were lots of rocks, but in the sun, it made it hard to see properly and judge what was lying ahead. I made one small mistake on one WPC and lost some time, but other than that, everything went smoothly. That’s one more stage ticked off with three more to go. I’m having fun out there, so everything is good.”
Ross Branch continues his fight for the top prize but a couple of mistakes in the hills and camel grass cost him some time resulting in losing more time to Rally leader Ricky Brabec. However, the Botswanan who piolet, is confident that he will be able to make good headway in the next few days.
“It was quite a long and rough day today,” Branch reflected. “I wasn’t fast enough from the get-go. I made a few mistakes in the camel grass this morning, couldn’t get on a couple of dunes easily, and lost a lot of time eventually. Ricky (Brabec) has got a bit more lead over us now, but it’s not the end of the Rally. We’re here in one piece, the bike’s good and I’m doing well. We’re still in the fight, and I’ll put my all to hammer down tomorrow, and hope for the best outcomes in the next few days.”
Opening stage nine was never going to be easy for Kevin Benavides, especially with the timed special throwing up several complex roadbook notes. Despite making a small mistake early on, the reigning Dakar champion was able to quickly regroup and move himself back to the front. Collecting three minutes and 26 seconds in bonuses, Benavides finished in sixth and holds on to sixth place in the overall standings.
“It’s been a tough stage today, not the easiest one to lead out on, but I did an okay job. I made a mistake at kilometer 45 and that meant I lost quite a lot of time and then I was caught by a couple of riders. After I got back on track I really tried to push and was able to catch up with the two guys ahead before the refueling. From there to the finish, Adrien (Van Beveren) and I opened the whole stage, with both of us taking turns to lead. It was a challenging stage, but I think we did a good job,” Benavides said.
Nacho Cornejo got disorientated on the route before the refuelling point which knocked his podium chances to lose him ten minutes on the stage to Van Beveren. His seventh-place finish has increased the gap to nearly fourteen minutes off Brabec as he’ll hope to capitalise on any mistakes made tomorrow by his fellow competitors.
Daniel Sanders lost some time on today’s stage but is still in the top ten, although almost 60 minutes off the lead.
“Another tough stage done and we’re one day closer to the finish,” Sanders said. “It was a bit of a rough day. I tried my best but struggled a lot and I had a few close calls early on, too. After that I settled down a bit and cruised on home. I stayed in my comfort zone, didn’t push too hard, and unfortunately lost some time today. But that’s better than not finishing at all. I’m happy to finish another stage, though, especially as today was a really long day on the bike.”
Dakar continues heading into stage ten tomorrow on a rocky loop around AlUla. The 371 km special stage will need riders to keep their wits about them as the famous rocky backdrops will look to catch them out with a technical route that could throw them off course.
