Motorbikes I Benavides still in the hunt

Dakar 2026 | Stage 7 | RIYADH > WADI AD DAWASIR
January 11 ^th 2026 - 18:39 [GMT + 3]

• You should never let opportunities get away, as Luciano Benavides knows all too well. The Argentinian let his flair do the talking in the special, which he started in sixth position, determined to make the most of the favourable terrain to stage a comeback. Benavides completed the rather fast course of the 459 km special in four hours, romping home with 4′47″ to spare over Edgar Canet and 4′57″ over Adrien Van Beveren, who delivered his finest performance since the start in Yanbu. The KTM rider is still third after his show of strength, but a mere 15 seconds from Ricky Brabec. This was his seventh Dakar stage win. Not bad at all.
• The top 3 overall remains the same, with Daniel Sanders perched at the summit, but his third place today will put him at a disadvantage tomorrow compared to his closest pursuer, Ricky Brabec (+4′25″), who will start the next stage in tenth position, 21 minutes after the Australian. The Monster Energy Honda HRC is known for his strategic acumen and could turn the situation to his advantage.
• Red Bull KTM Factory Racing continue to hold the top spot, but the rally is still wide open despite Tosha Schareina losing some time today as the second rider on the road. The Spaniard hoovered up time bonuses for opening the way but lost time to the leader. He now stands just over 15 minutes back.
• The Rally2 rider Michael Docherty continued to crash the RallyGP party and finished fifth overall in the stage to Wadi Ad-Dawasir, as well as picking up his fifth stage win of the season in his class. It is a decent consolation prize after the first marathon stage wrecked his overall prospects.

• Oodles of talent, metronomic consistency and a pinch of good luck make up the recipe for Dakar success. Whether he can contend for the title in the six remaining stages or not, Mattias Ekström proved again today that he has all the necessary ingredients. The Swede claimed his seventh Dakar stage win, leaving João Ferreira and Mitch Guthrie 4′27″ and 4′55″ behind. He has never been too far from the lead since the rally began in Yanbu. Today, everything fell into place for him to move up another level in the provisional standings, where he now trails Nasser Al Attiyah by 4′47″.
• As a five-time winner of the race, the leader has many cards to play. It was not raw speed that did the trick for him, as he only finished eleventh; rather, the top Dacia Sandrider driver saw the wind that sweeps Wadi ad-Dawasir turn in his favour. His closest rival, Henk Lategan, was on the verge of wresting the overall lead from him for the vast majority of the stage, setting the scene for a vicious duel between the Hilux and the Sandrider, when disaster struck at km 428 and the South African had to stop for almost ten minutes. It was enough for him to lose the stage win and fall outside the provisional podium (fourth at 7′21″). Al Attiyah can rest a bit easier.
• Mattias Ekström was far from the only Ford Raptor driver in top form. Nani Roma did everything that was expected from him and then some more. The Catalan retained third place overall after Lategan ran into trouble. Roma even cut his deficit to Al Attiyah by about one minute to 7′15″. Unlike his teammate, he will have a great start position in the longest special of the 2026 Dakar tomorrow.