Dakar update after Tuesday’s Stage 9 | Toby Price charges

2023 Dakar Rally – Stage 9
Riyadh – Haradh

Stage 9 was a tough day at the Dakar, with difficult navigation and challenging terrain including 358 km of timed special, Australian Toby Price finishing the day second overall, behind Husqvarna’s Luciano Benavides, with just minute separating the top two riders.

The two-time Dakar champion will now follow today’s winner into Wednesday’s stage 10, aiming to minimise the time lost to the chasing pack, with leading the stage still fraught with issues, even with the 2023 changes in play.

Toby Price – P2

“Yeah, it’s been a good day for me. It looks like the boys in front got lost just before the refuel. I navigated through there really good, so that meant I was able to make up some minutes. I just tried to push on a bit today, I was trying really hard to keep up a fast pace but not make any big mistakes. All in all, I felt really good today, it’s nice to feel fresh after the rest day. It looks like tomorrow will be mostly all sand, so we’ll try our best there and see where we end up.”

There was no better example of how difficult leading can be than fellow Australian, GASGAS mounted, Daniel Sanders. Faced with the arduous task of helping to lead out on stage nine after his runner-up finish on stage eight, Chucky frustratingly lost a substantial amount of time in a rocky plateau early on in the 358km special and would ultimately go on to finish in 20th place.

Daniel Sanders – P20

“Today was always going to be tough leading out and early on I quickly caught up with the leading riders. There was a note in the roadbook to head up into a rocky plateau but once up there it was really hard to find the way. I reckon I lost around 15 minutes or so there, but that’s how rally goes sometimes. It’s a little frustrating but all I can do is keep moving forward and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Luciano Benavides has topped day nine of the Dakar Rally. Securing his second stage win of the 2023 event, the Argentinian delivered a masterclass of rally racing, only dropping to second for a short distance before powering his FR 450 Rally home to post the fastest time.

Luciano Benavides – P1

“I’m really happy. I cannot believe I won again, and to be the first rider at this Dakar to win twice feels incredible. It was a really hard stage with a lot of navigation – you really had to focus on your road book to make sure you didn’t make any mistakes. There were a lot of broken tracks and different lines, so it was easy to take a slightly wrong line. Now I am opening the stage tomorrow, so it will be full gas all the way to the finish.”

Starting two places ahead of his team-mate, Skyler Howes also put in a great ride to secure a third-place result, two-minutes behind Price. Losing a couple of minutes while trying to find one particular way-point meant that the American was soon caught by Benavides, and from there the two pushed hard toward the refuelling stop and then on to the finish.

Skyler Howes – P3

“The stage today was pretty tricky. We hit a section where we were missing one waypoint and it was in a place deep with stones and a lot of mud. It was tough to navigate through there and I knew we were going off the CAP heading a little, so I had to circle around to get back on track. Luciano caught up with me then and riding together we really put the charge on, partly because I thought I had lost a lot more time than I had. We did a good job all the way from the refuelling to the finish. The ground out there was incredible – there’s been so much rain, in some places it was like riding through giant rivers. It’s been a challenging day and I’m sure there will be plenty more to come as we make our way to the end.”

Behind Howes were Tosha Schareina and Romain Dumontier, before Monster Energy Honda Team top rider for the stage in sixth – Jose Ignacio Cornejo.

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Jose Ignacio Cornejo – P6

“This was the first stage after the rest day. Navigation was kind of tricky, we started with some dunes then some rocky piste. I was feeling pretty good from the beginning, made no navigation mistakes and was riding at a good pace. Then I crashed, not too fast, but got stuck under the bike and damaged the road-book. I have to thank Santolino because he was there and helped me. I lost some minutes, but not too much and managed to continue at a good pace.”

Also producing a solid result on day nine, despite a small navigational error early on, Kevin Benavides placed seventh, the 34-year-old had moved into third place by km 85, but then lost several minutes trying to find one particularly tricky-to-navigate waypoint.

Kevin Benavides – P7

“Today was a really hard stage with a lot of navigation. I tried my best to make a good pace and focus on my road book. I pushed really hard right from the beginning but then lost a bit of time with a really complicated note in the road book – thankfully not as much as some of the riders ahead of me. After that I pushed on towards the finish and had a good, trouble-free ride. I’m pleased with my result today, so we’ll see how things go tomorrow.”

Toni Mulec, Martin Michek and Franco Caimi rounded out the top-ten, with notable riders past that placings including Adrien Van Beveren in 14th, and Pablo Quintanilla in 18th, Sanders who was already mentioned in 20th and Matthias Walkner in 27th.

Adrien Van Beveren – P14

“This was a hard day for me. I started fifth and at around kilometer one hundred the navigation was tricky in the big plateau and it was difficult to see the tracks. Then I found the waypoint and then we were all five riders together. Mason was riding without a road-book very close to me and around 20 km from the end he came from behind and we both crashed. So I am glad I could make it to the end of the stage.”

Pablo Quintanilla – P18

“This was a tough day for us, the ones who were riding in front. I caught the group in front at around 120 km. There was a tricky note in the road-book close to a plateau and I lost 2 or 3 minutes there. Then Adrien caught me and we were riding together until the end. It was really difficult today, because the road-book had a lot of different directions. We knew we were going to lose some time. It is always easier when you come from behind. The Dakar is like this, sometimes you get a good position, others you just don’t.”

Matthias Walkner – P27

“It was a really hard stage for me today. Although I tried to give it my all, I got lost at one point and that cost me a lot of time. Not the best day for me at all. I spent most of the day riding on my own, so it was difficult to judge my pace, too. It’s frustrating because I feel stronger with my wrist, but it was just that one small mistake that has cost me some minutes. I’ll try my best tomorrow and keep on pushing to the finish.”

Joan Barreda had a clear message on the rear of his helmet when enrolling for his 13th Dakar as he prepares to hit the 40-year mark. “Last Shot” was what the pursuers of “Bang Bang” could read, a mix of “last dance” and his reputation as a sharp-shooting collector of 29 stage wins on the Dakar, the Spaniard within four victories of the records held by Peterhansel and Despres.   Barreda however went down hard on Tuesday, and has now likely holstered his gun for good. It is the sixth time that “Bang Bang” has exited the rally prematurely. His best result on the Dakar will surely be the 5th places obtained in both 2017 and 2022. Barreda was eighth outright before hitting the deck.

Dakar Stage 10 Route

Tomorrow, Wednesday, is time to move in the direction of Shaybah to race the 10th stage of the race. This selective section has been kept deliberately short – just 114 kilometres – as an approach into the bowels of the Empty Quarter. A long liaison (508 km) will take up most of the day, so this appetiser will be mainly composed of the local delicacy: sand.

Rankings after Dakar Stage 9

As the 2023 Dakar Rally gets to the pointy end of things, with shorter routes and shorter timed specials, it’ll be harder for riders to make big gains, with Skyler Howes leading the overall rankings, and Toby Price second just three-seconds off his time.

Third placed Kevin Benavides is a further five-minutes in arrears, with fourth placed Adrien Van Beveren adding 10-minutes to that figure, followed by Pablo Quintanilla (+18m24s), Mason Klein (+18m42s), Luciano Benavides (+21m35s), Jose Cornejo (+22m47s) and Daniel Sanders (+23m47s).

From Sanders in ninth to 10th placed Lorenzo Santolino (+40m38s) there’s another significant jump, of almost 17-minutes.

Dakar Stage 9 Highlights Video

2023 Dakar Rally Stage 9 Results

2023 Dakar Rally Overall After Stage 9

2023 Dakar Rally Schedule