Sébastien Loeb: "Everyone played the same game…"

Dakar 2025 | Stage 1 | BISHA > BISHA
January 4 ^th 2025 - 15:40 [GMT + 3]

Sébastien Loeb was grinning like a Cheshire cat at the finish of stage 1. It was the smile of a strategist who has just outwitted his rivals. The Frenchman does not believe that he is the only one who deliberately let a few minutes slip by in order to avoid starting too far up the order tomorrow in the 48 h chrono stage.

"The goal wasn't to set the fastest time, so we decided to stop for a few minutes at the end to lose some time and avoid starting first tomorrow. Everyone played the same game… Now we just have to wait and see our exact position in the standings."