Dakar, Stage 6: Saunders penalized, Shalayna saved, title race tense

daniel sanderscurrent champion of dakarwanted to deal a blow to this edition with an attempted coup that could knock out all rivals vying for the title. pilot of KTM I went out to win some of the.touaregto stage 6 of dakar 2026a grueling endurance stage that involved running 326 kilometers through all the sand dunes, he wanted to hit his opponent and hurt his opponent. It seemed as if he was meant to achieve it and reached the finish line with great results. However, all his work was undone by a penalty for speeding in a limited area.

The Australian thus gained a 6 minute 45 second advantage over his arch-rival Brabec, further increasing his advantage at the top of the overall rankings.and Benavidez and Shalayna in the 16th and 17th minute, respectively. Because of that miscalculation, he throws everything away. Taking the punishment he received, he gave Brabec wings and pushed the Dakar harder than ever. After six stages, Daniel maintained a narrow lead, just 45 seconds behind Brabec, followed by Luciano 10 minutes behind and Tosha Chalayna just under 12 minutes behind.

Daniel Saunders crossed the finish line and traveled 300 kilometers to his new camp in Riyadh, expecting to receive the now official six-minute penalty.

“It was very difficult to open the track. It was a roller coaster of emotions all day. Unfortunately I got a speeding penalty so that will set me back a little bit. I just pushed as hard as I could today but it’s hard to do well on sand, especially openings. I did the best I could and we have to stop making stupid mistakes. This first week didn’t end in such a good way,” commented Daniel. Who is on fire and the proof is that it took him little time to corner Cornejo and Saunders from the third starting position of the stage. From there he started the course at a considerable pace, making it clear that he was the favorite for the title.

At this point in the competition, the KTM rider had a 4-minute, 43-second lead at the finish line over his biggest opponent in the Dakar, Honda-born American and two-time Dakar champion Ricky Brabec. And he could have declared a definitive “checkmate” on Tosha Shalayna. Tosha Chalayna was six minutes ahead of him and could have dealt the final blow to the Valencian 10 minutes after inexplicably conceding a goal due to poor exit procedures from the shelter camp yesterday. At stage 5.

that remained Tosha Saunders ran a time of 11:59 instead of 1:59, minimizing his options for achieving victory through consistency and quality. sanders and brabec. He will have to fail in a fierce duel where both sides are evenly matched, and in the end he will have to take more risks. And losing time on stage six took the Valencian even further out of the fight. At the finish line, Tosha had a 5-minute, 57-second lead over Saunders, the day’s interim winner, which was a much larger margin than expected. That’s because in the dune and motorcycle classes, such differences don’t usually occur.

The Spaniard was 18 minutes behind the overall leader, a world away. However, this 6 minute penalty eliminates the disadvantage at this stage; Tosha End the day by winning the game Daniel Just 3 seconds. Because of your mistake, sanders left Tosha Even if there were some options. And in a race like dakarthere are still seven stages and thousands of kilometers to travel in the second week, which is expected to be very tough, but Tosha still has a chance.

Money, a difficult day

Edgar Canet spent more than four hours in the sun repairing his wheels the day before, reaping the rewards of an effort he refused to abandon.keep racing and keep learning. arrival Arrived at the bivouac 4 and a half hours later than everyone else.very tired and exhausted, before waking up at 3am to head to the hard dune stage. And the physical effort took its toll on him.

He reached the finish line losing 18’21”However, Edgar, who suffered a four-and-a-half hour loss and a six-hour penalty on the fifth stage, is not too concerned about time. The important thing is that he made it to the end of the special and continues to compete.

Josep Pedro was 27th in 36 minutes 49 seconds, third in the original MOTUL stage. After three stage wins in that category (without assists). In the original classification, He lost 6’41” to the leader, but maintained second place with 8’08”.

Arnau Jed was 28th in 37 minutes 47 seconds. He has been consistently in the top 20 in recent days on rocks and hills, the type of terrain he needs to improve on. Taradel driver reaches the break stage in 19th place overall in debut race He achieved great results in the world’s toughest race.