DAKAR 2026

Sainz faces navigation difficulties, Roma remains strong and Al-Attiyah is the new leader

"I want to arrive in Riyadh with the biggest possible advantage and then do my job." Nasser Al-Attiyah outlined his plan to the Spanish media a few days ago and, although only partially, he fulfilled it.

The Qatari rider begins the long weekend in the overall lead, after also winning today's stage (Ha'il-Riyadh, 326 km), his first stage victory in the 2016 Dakar Rally. A valuable victory for the team's morale (the Romanians had not yet experienced victory).

The best among the Spaniards was, once again, Nani Roma(image above), who is having a perfect Dakar. The Catalan finished fifth, 5:31 behind Al-Attiyah, and finished just ahead of Carlos Sainz, who lost 6:33 today.

The Madrid-born driver lost a little more time than expected in the first part of the stage due to some navigation errors, but the good news is that the engine and clutch of his Ford seem to have responded perfectly after last night's repairs (which were completed shortly before midnight).

The one who missed a good opportunity today was South African Henk Lategan, who started far behind in the stage... and not only did he fail to recover the difference, but he lost 9 minutes and 24 seconds on a day when there didn't seem to be enough ground to lose so much time... At Toyota, when contacted by MARCA, they were unable to explain what happened before receiving clarification from the Dakar runner-up (although, upon arrival, the South African claimed navigation problems).

The overall lead remains with Al-Attiyah, 6:10 ahead of Lategan, and Nani Roma in third place – the highest-placed Spaniard – 9:13 behind, just ahead of Sainz, who will start the second week of the race with 11:49 to make up. Furthermore, the Catalan and the Madrid native are now the best Ford drivers… something that could prove important later in the race.

Tomorrow the race will have a rest day before resuming on Sunday, heading to Wadi ad Dawasir, in what will be one of the longest stages of the competition.

Dakar 2026: Overall Car Classification, Stage 6

Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia) 3h 38:28

Henk Lategan (Toyota) at 6:10

Nani Roma (Ford) at 9:13

Carlos Sainz (Ford) at 11:49

Mattias Ekström (Ford) at 12:11

Sébastien Loeb (Dacia) at 17:16

Mitch Guthrie (Ford) at 21:49

Mathieu Serradori (Século) at 23:29

Eric Goczal (Toyota) at 24:40

Lucas Moraes (Dacia) at 26:46

Ricky Brabec wins, Tosha Schareina recovers, and Daniel Sanders remains in the lead

American Ricky Brabec secured his first stage victory in the 2016 Dakar Rally by winning the 6th stage, the last before the rest day, thanks to a penalty imposed on Australian Daniel Sanders, who had originally won the stage. After receiving the penalty yesterday, Spaniard Tosha Schareina recovered time and is once again very close to the podium.

The turnaround in the second part of the marathon, with problems for several of the favorites, foreshadowed a very interesting sixth stage, with several fronts open: Argentine Luciano Benavides opening the race after yesterday's victory, Australian Daniel Sanders defending the lead, starting six minutes later, or the possible recovery of Spaniard Tosha Schareina, who was penalized with a ten-minute delay.

Initially, the first 'surprise' name that emerged was that of South African Michael Docherty, who returned to the race after having abandoned the day before yesterday and started by setting the best time at the first checkpoint, with a nine-second advantage over Sanders, who took advantage of his third starting position to force the pace and, after quickly catching up with Nacho Cornejo, reach his teammate Luciano Benavides.

Unlike what happened in previous days on Honda with Schareina and Brabec, who after joining up halfway through the stage continued together to share the bonuses, 'Chucky's' plans did not include waiting for the Argentinian, whom he quickly left behind to continue alone through the dunes.

Completely out of control, Daniel Sanders won the stage with a 4-minute and 43-second advantage, after receiving a bonus of only 2 minutes and 40 seconds, which means he would have won anyway. However, he himself had warned that he expected a 6-minute penalty for speeding, which ended up being confirmed.

This gave the victory to Ricky Brabec, who covered the 331 kilometers of the special stage, starting in Hail and finishing in Riyadh, in 3 hours, 41 minutes and 33 seconds, just 1 minute and 14 seconds faster than his teammate Tosha Schareina, who thus recovered from yesterday's disaster.

However, bad luck struck when the penalty left Sanders just three seconds behind the Spaniard, an insignificant difference that will allow the Australian to start three minutes behind and launch another attack the day after tomorrow. Michael Docherty was behind them, but a seven-minute penalty dropped him to seventh.

The beneficiaries were the Honda riders, American Skyler Howes and Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren – both recovering from a bad day yesterday – and Argentinian Luciano Benavides, who remains in a podium position. The top 10 was completed by Slovenian Toni Mulec and the Hero duo, with Chilean Nacho Cornejo ahead of Botswanan Ross Branch.

After yesterday's display of resilience, when he lost four and a half hours, in addition to a six-hour penalty for changing a tire, Edgar Canet secured a modest 15th place, which certainly helped him recover his form after the setback. As for the other Spanish cyclists, Josep Pedró remains firmly in the fight for Original, with Arnau Lledó among the top 30 and Javi Vega a little further back today.

DAKAR 2026 - Bikes stage 6:

1 Ricky BRABEC Honda 3h41'33''

2 Tosha SCHAREINA Honda + 1'14''

3 Daniel SANDERS KTM + 1'17''

4 Skyler HOWES Honda + 4'03''

5 Adrien VAN BEVEREN Honda + 5'21''

6 Luciano BENAVIDES KTM + 5'37''

7 Michael DOCHERTY KTM + 9'33''

8 Toni MULEC KTM + 12'06''

9 Nacho CORNEJO Hero + 12'29''

10 Ross BRANCH Hero + 13'34''

Autonews and Mundoquatrorodas