DAKAR 2026

Brabec(Honda) in the lead, Sanders' worst day

While Carlos Sainz and Nani Roma have practically said goodbye to their chances in the cars, stage 10 (marathon-Bisha) was disastrous for the reigning champion and leader until today, Daniel Sanders, in the motorcycle category.

The Australian suffered a heavy fall in the dunes at kilometer 138 (according to the rider himself, he broke his collarbone and sternum), and there he buried a good part of his chances of retaining the crown. Tosha Schareina (whom he had already caught by then) and Ricky Brabec stopped to help him. After the stage, they returned 1:37 to the American and 41 seconds to the Spaniard.

Undoubtedly a tough blow for the Aussie, who was facing a stage that could have been favorable to him, even though Luciano Benavides had a clear advantage starting ninth (but got stuck in a dune until Bradley Cox got him out). Sanders was poised to gain significant time bonuses... but ended up on the ground, losing the lead and even second place overall.

Schareina hasn't had a top day, but he's in a podium position-image bove  photo:Honda HRC

The Valencian rider couldn't capitalize on the chaos... except to close the gap on Sanders, who gradually faded during the stage... although it could have been worse (he lost 27:50 to Van Beveren and 15:45 to the Spaniard). In fact, the number one completed two-thirds of the stage with severe shoulder pain.

The overall standings couldn't be tighter. The overall lead passes to the two-time champion, Ricky Brabec, who will start tomorrow's stage 11 with less than a minute's advantage over Benavides (57 seconds, to be precise). In the battle for the podium, Schareina (who is third at 15:43) has a margin of almost two minutes over Sanders. The spirit of the Dakar Rally dictated that on the 40th anniversary of the death of Thierry Sabine, the race's creator, a Frenchman, Adrien Van Beveren (Honda), would achieve victory in the motorcycle stage. He did so with difficulty compared to Benavides, as the Frenchman had to open the track for several kilometers... but the time bonuses saved him from defeat.

The final part of the stage continued with Skyler Howes arriving at the front to complete the group of the four official Hondas, with Docherty right behind. Among them, Adrien Van Beveren shone particularly, taking the victory by completing the 368-kilometer special stage between the refuge and Bisha in 4 hours, 15 minutes and 43 seconds, after deducting the 2-minute and 48-second bonus he had received.

After receiving a 1:37 penalty for the time he spent stopped next to Sanders – plus a 3:17 bonus – Ricky Brabec moved up to second place in the special stage, 3:49 behind the winner, just ahead of Luciano Benavides and Skyler Howes, who received a 1:05 bonus. Next came Nacho Cornejo, Michael Docherty (with a 2:38 penalty) and Toni Mulec, who is closing in on the Rally 2 lead, currently held by Preston Campbell.

Tosha Schareina accumulated up to 5 minutes and 28 seconds of bonus time to finish the stage just over 10 minutes behind the winner, in eighth position, which will allow him to launch an attack tomorrow. Behind him finished the Italian Paolo Lucci and, after the time reset, Edgar Canet.

The bad news for the Spanish contingent was the withdrawal of debutant Arnau Lledó, who suffered a fall after only a few hundred meters on the special stage, resulting in a fractured talus bone. He had to abandon the race while in the top 25 overall. Tomorrow, the Dakar will once again encounter treacherous terrain. On the way to Al Henakiyah, the drivers will have to contend once more with the dreaded rocks (more so for the cars than the motorcycles, it should be noted). It will be 346 kilometers of maximum tension... especially for Sanders, who was very uncomfortable on that terrain in the first few days, and for Benavides, who is nursing a knee injury.

Dakar Rally 2027: General Classification for Motorcycles, Stage 10

Ricky Brabec (Honda) 41h 35:13

Luciano Benavides (KTM) at 57s

Tosha Schareina (Honda) at 15:43

Daniel Sanders (KTM) at 17:37

Skyler Howes (Honda) at 38:53

Adrien Van Beveren (Honda) at 58:25

Nacho Cornejo (Hero) at 1h 01:31

Ross Branch (Hero) 2h 21:29

Preston Campbell (Honda) at 2h 28:11

Toni Mulec (KTM) at 2h 31:38

Carlos Sainz and Nani Roma lose their chances on a fateful day

The tenth stage of the 2026 Dakar Rally could have been the end for the two Spanish drivers with chances in the car category, as both Nani Roma and Carlos Sainz (the latter more than the former) lost a lot of time to Nasser Al-Attiyah on the way to Bisha.

As both predicted, the return marathon was the crucial stage of the Dakar... and they faced it in the worst possible position. Mainly because the course presented navigation traps, as the two Spaniards were ahead... and behind drivers unaccustomed to forging their way on the track, such as the Goczal brothers and Toby Price. On the other hand, both Al-Attiyah and Lategan started far behind, with all the tracks already marked. And this proved crucial.

Because the race really did have a navigation trap. Around kilometer 196, Price, Sainz, and the Goczal brothers got lost (the Madrid native was the most persistent in his mistake, even stopping for a minute to calm down and try to find the right path). Even so, the time he lost at the finish (21:03 with Al-Attiyah, plus a 15-minute penalty for not passing through a checkpoint) leaves him out of contention.

Nani Roma also hesitated on the same stretch that cost Sainz dearly, but for a shorter time. The problem was that he then had to build a lead on the track and lost even more ground. He remains 12:50 behind Al-Attiyah in the overall standings, so he still has some hope if the Dacia mechanics fail.

Because the Qatari and Lategan didn't waste the opportunity and regained the first two positions in the race. The Qatari only lost the stage to the Frenchman Mathieu Serradori, and the South African, who seemed to finally be having a relatively quiet day and was riding alongside Al-Attiyah, ran out of breath and had to be towed to the finish line by Toby Price.

Dakar Rally 2026: General classification of cars, stage 10:

Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia) 41h 39:50

Henk Lategan (Toyota) at 12h

Nani Roma (Ford) at 12:50

Sébastien Loeb (Dacia) at 23h04

Mathieu Serradori (Séccleus) at 33:42

Mattias Ekström (Ford) at 34:19

Carlos Sainz (Ford) at 39:09

Autonews and Mundoquatrorodas