Puck Klaassen: “Out of a 480-km stage, three seconds is crazy”

Dakar 2026 | Stage 8 | WADI AD DAWASIR > WADI AD DAWASIR
January 12 ^th 2026 - 16:29 [GMT + 3]

Puck Klaassen won in the Challenger class for the second time since Yanbu. On stage 3, the Dutchwoman became the fifth woman to win a stage in one of the race categories. She has doubled her tally and two women achieved an unprecedented double today, as Dania Akeel followed her into the finish just 3 seconds behind. Since Yanbu, only the podium for stage 1 has not been graced with the presence of either Dania or Puck. The Saudi Arabian has been on the podium five times, while today's winner is on her third.

 “I wasn’t expecting it. Out of a 480-km stage, three seconds is crazy. […] It’s cool that we got to battle it out together with Dania, I’m really, really happy. We started 10th out of the Challengers and I think that gave us a good gap where we had some clear air and I was able to push a bit. At the end we had a bit of dust here but it wasn’t too bad. I think we were lucky with our passes and also Augusto made some really good navigation choices. I think a lot of people got lost but we were good with that”.