RALLY DAKAR 2023
Ross Branch wins the stage and Kevin Benavides takes the lead in the extremely tight Dakar 2023
Botswana's Ross Branch achieved his second partial victory in the 2023 Dakar by winning the tenth stage, covering the 114-kilometre special between Haradh and Shaybah in 1 hour and 44 minutes, leading Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren by 21 seconds and by 30 seconds to South African rookie Michael Docherty.
The Argentine Kevin Benavides has remained one minute behind, who rises to the lead ahead of the American Skyler Howes and the Australian Toby Price, with the three favorites separated by just over two minutes four days from the end. Among the Spanish riders, Tosha Schareina was the best of the day, finishing 15th.
The dunes arrived at the Dakar with a kind of appetizer: a stage with a very long link of more than 600 kilometres, but with just over a hundred kilometers of special. Even so, there was expectation to see if big differences would be generated. It quickly turned out not.
Opening the track penalized, of course. But not too much either. Luciano Benavides, winner yesterday, gave a navigation exhibition and not only did he not see himself caught by anyone; rather, he was faster than the three chasing him: Toby Price, Skyler Howes and Tosha Schareina.
On the contrary, their tracks did allow the fast riders behind to focus on hitting the gas to star in a beautiful fight for the stage that was on edge until the end and that began with the South African Michael Docherty commanding the first waypoint ahead by Adrien Van Beveren.
The Frenchman took the lead at the next two crossing points, but in the penultimate Ross Branch he was already just one second away from ending up setting the best time at the finish line by 21 seconds over the Frenchman and 30 over the South African, with the Argentine Kevin Benavides one minute away and the Austrian Matthias Walkner in the top 5.
Pablo Quintanilla -who had everyone in suspense by being close to an hour without setting time at the waypoints (it is understood that due to a GPS failure) signed the sixth fastest time ahead of Mason Klein, with the South Americans Nacho Cornejo, Franco Caimi and Daniel Nosiglia Jager in the top 10.
Out of it were Daniel Sanders and Luciano Benavides (with a 2:24 bonus), who gave up six minutes; the Spaniards Tosha Schareina and Lorenzo Santolino; and the two riders who commanded the overall standings at the beginning of the stage: Skyler Howes entered 17th at 7:38 after deducting 45 bonus seconds; and Toby Price, 18th at 8:16 with the bonus of 1:34.
For his part, Joan Pedrero finished the stage in 28th position with Javi Vega placed one more day in the top 40 and cutting off a couple of minutes from the South African Charan Moore, who leads him by more than 21 minutes in the Original category classification. .
by SWINXY
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