RALLY DAKAR 2023
Luciano Benavides beats Skyler Howes and Joan Barreda looks at the Dakar 2023 podium
The Argentine Luciano Benavides has made his debut as a stage winner in the Dakar by taking the sixth stage of the Dakar 2023 between Ha'il and Al Duwadimi, with the special cut to 358 kilometers that he has covered in 3 hours, 14 minutes and 19 seconds for becoming the second Argentine to win a stage, following in the footsteps of his brother Kevin Benavides.
It has also broken a three-year drought for Husqvarna, where Skyler Howes has completed the double to consolidate his leadership with respect to the Australian Toby Price, with the Spanish Joan Barreda signing fourth place in the stage and climbing to that same position in the general classification, where approaches podium positions.
The cut in the final section of today's stage has left it a little watered down and with no differences between the favourites, since after refueling there was barely a 50-kilometre section left and it has not allowed for big differences. Quickly, and after being second in the first waypoint behind Nacho Cornejo, the American Skyler Howes took control of the stage taking advantage of his fifth starting position.
Ahead, Cornejo gave chase to his teammate Adrien Van Beveren and went on to open the track, also gaining a few bonus seconds while Toby Price was catching up little by little. Further back, Luciano Benavides was the only one capable of replicating the times of his teammate Howes, with Cornejo and Price staying in the fight for the stage thanks to bonuses.
For his part, Joan Barreda -who became unconscious yesterday after falling in the final stretch of the stage- kept losing time very little by little, limiting the damage in a stage in which to get rid of yesterday's scare. There was also the recovery of Daniel Sanders, who was sick yesterday and left a lot of time, giving up the lead and about half an hour.
In the end, and when everything indicated that Skyler Howes was going to debut his record of stage victories in the Dakar, suddenly they added 2:36 to his stage time and he gave victory to his teammate Luciano Benavides, staying 56 seconds behind. to seal a historic one-two for Husqvarna.
The third position went to Toby Price at 2:20 (thanks to a 1:36 bonus), but in just a minute Joan Barreda, Kevin Benavides, Nacho Cornejo (with a 3:33 bonus), Daniel Sanders, Stefan Svitko also entered and Pablo Quintanilla. Adrien Van Beveren also saved the day, giving up just over 4 minutes thanks to the bonus.
Among the rest of the Spanish riders, Lorenzo Santolino dropped almost eight minutes, with Tosha Schareina one more day inside the top 20 and Joan Pedrero 26th. The negative note was put by Sandra Gómez, who after placing herself as the leader of the women yesterday she broke the engine and could not go out to the special.
by SWINXY
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