Edgar Canet, the youngest stage winner in Dakar history, hallucinates: “I can’t believe I’m the leader. I’m the happiest boy in the whole bivouac.”

After standing on the podium for the first time Dakar 2026at the end of the prologue stage, edgar canet He couldn’t hide his smile. Surprisingly calm considering his age (20) and the feat he has just accomplished, the Catalan driver said he could not believe he was the inaugural leader of the 2026 Dakar. The youngest stage winner in motorcycle Dakar history. It’s an outrage.

Edgar downplayed the record, saying “age is just a number”, but said he was very happy with the pace and feel he showed on the bike.

The Catalan driver beat teammate and reigning Dakar champion Daniel Saunders by three seconds on the ultra-fast special, which featured areas of stone and sand. He started to surprise again in his second Dakar, achieving his main objective of signing a good prologue that would determine his starting position for Stage 1, without any navigation errors.

The first player chooses last and is given the privilege of starting stage 1 from a location where they can follow the track and start their strategy without giving up time.

“The truth is that I’m certainly the happiest boy in this whole bivouac. I can’t quite believe that I’m the leader of the Dakar right now.”but well, it comes out after a lot, a lot of work. This has been a tough year, yes, everything has gone very well, but it’s still a year that has taken a toll. And being able to arrive and win the first stage, Prologue, means that we are the leaders of the Dakar, so the long race starts tomorrow. ”expressed Canet in front of the MD microphone.

Of course, Edgar remembered that that was just the beginning. With 13 extremely tough stages remaining, Canet placed particular emphasis on the toughness of the second week of the race. He revealed that it would be difficult to repeat this feat on longer stages. However, when faced with a gem like money, nothing can be ruled out.

“I’m going to take the concentration I gained in these 23 kilometers and put it into the 400 kilometers, which is the most difficult part of the Dakar Rally. It’s a really, really hard race. And, well, we’ll see how it goes. To tell the truth, I’m a little calmer now and I can choose that position from tomorrow.” Those who win the prologue have this advantage. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow so I’m going to sleep more peacefully, but I’m happy to have a good starting position. ”commented.

“You and your environment are trying to reassure us that it’s not time to aim for something yet, but this result shows that your talent is extraordinary,” the MD told him.

“Of course we knew we could do it, but realistically it’s going to be much harder to reproduce the results we had today. But believing we can get there is the best way to start.” And obviously, it’s going to be a lot of work, but we’ll try to get there. The Dakar is very hard, the second week of the Dakar is going to be very hard. Since you are expected to cover many kilometers, you must try to reach the rest stage as best as possible. And prepare to fight in the second match. Therefore, if we reach this pace in the next few days, it will be very difficult to reach the rest stage without resting,” replied the KTM young man.

The faster you read the roadbook, the faster you will be

Yes, obviously all this is useful to me because I have more experience on the bike and can read the road book faster. I think the point in the prologue was to anticipate the dangers of the curve a little. There were many lines where the players in front of me were going straight, so I was able to anticipate that and cut to get the inside out, so I think that’s why I was able to cut the players in front of me this time. Therefore, we are willing to learn and improve.

Steep terrain with many stones and sand

It was very, very fast terrain, rocky in some areas and then sandy, generally the terrain we all liked. In other words, the bike worked 100%. I also gave my 100%, so I’m very satisfied. The truth is, I have never made a navigational mistake and have never hesitated at any time. So, if I could maintain this concentration during the 400km stage 1, it would be perfect, but as I have already told you, that is the difficult part.

Starting from a good position at the back on Stage 1 will give you an advantage, but starting from the front on Stage 2 may still give you an advantage.

“Well, each race strategy makes a difference, but obviously starting and winning the next race and being able to pick the position tomorrow is the position that everyone wanted. So I think we’re in the best possible position and we’ll see. Obviously there are a lot of stages to consider and everything needs to be planned well, but obviously we have the best position tomorrow.”