Daniel Sanders: “It’s going to be a race right up to the finishing line”

January 2 ^nd 2026 - 12:56 [GMT + 3]

Sanders enjoyed an exceptional season last year, winning the Dakar and the following three legs of the W2RC which saw him claim his first world title one race before the finale, which was won by Tosha Schareina, providing the only bum note of the maestro’s 2025 season. As of tomorrow, he intends to return to his metronomic supremacy…

 “On the last race, I lost it, but it was a shorter race. There wasn’t much time and I made too many mistakes. I actually broke a bone in my chest on day two in Morocco. It was super disappointing and I was just really frustrated with how I was riding. We just went back, refreshed and focused on what we needed to do. We’ve got a good mindset and everything else coming into this race. There’s fourteen days, so we have lots of time to make up time or to fix mistakes if we have any. We want to start strongly and continue that throughout the race. […] Going into this year, we’re always improving, making updates on the bike, making it better and better, which we have, and I’m excited to use it this year at the race. We don’t stop, we keep moving forward, you can’t rest. […] With no Empty Quarter I think it’s going to be a race right up to the finishing line. It looks like it’s going to get harder as the race goes on, so the first week is going to be stoney and hard, before big days around the rest day and then the last week is going to be tough, I think, with really big stages and difficult areas. But it’s the Dakar: the weather can change the race as well as the navigation and everything else. I think it’s going to be a bit different from the last few years because the race was nearly finished in the Empty Quarter. There wasn’t much time to make up, so that’s were strategy counted. I don’t think there’s going to be any strategy for this race. You just need to be consistent. The most consistent rider is going to be there all the time, not have a bad day, is going to be up the front and we’ve got many days to do this”.