The bike riders of dakar they are of different kinds. It’s nothing new. They drive at over 170km/h through thousands of hazards in the vast desert, reading directions from a roadbook and driving as fast as they can. But that’s not all. His ability to resist the pain that would cause anyone to lie in bed continues to amaze me. One example is the miracle performed by the Argentinians. luciano benavides.

He has been called “faster” but has suffered serious knee injuries in the past. morocco rallyI met with a very bad accident. He tore his knee, anterior cruciate ligament, meniscus, and dislocated the acromion of his shoulder. He then decided not to undergo surgery to reach Dakar. He began a recovery process with a lot of pain and sacrifice to get back on the bike, and a month later he was already stepping on the gas and testing himself. And despite the pain, he could not hide his happy face. “There are two good things. The first is that my confidence didn’t go away. And the second is that I can’t drive or put my foot down anymore because of my knee. I’m very happy. I’m happy to be back here.”He said with a sigh of relief after suffering.

Many people saw Saunders, his KTM teammates, and the riders. sling, Tosha Shalayna and ricky brabec As a big favorite over the rest. Luciano arrived with a limp, so they had no recourse. In this Dakar shakedown, luck made things even more difficult as he crashed again and suffered a major meniscus injury. However, he decided to move on.

MD spoke with him before the test. ”my feet? I try not to think about it. It’s a different Dakar for me…”he pointed out. He had to test himself and find his rhythm. But no one thought what he would achieve in this Dakar 2026. There are only 5 stages left in the rally, and after passing the 8th stage, he has become the leader in the overall motorcycle rankings. can’t believe it.

He almost quit at stage 2

And that’s after three wins in four days. Beastly. A pure story of resistance, resilience, and survival in Dakarian. Stage 2 looked like it was going to get even more complicated and he thought his tire would be completely destroyed and all his efforts to qualify for the Dakar would be in vain. “In the last few kilometers I started to feel the tires and I said, ‘I’m going to explode.’ On the last straight, I begged God. I lost a little bit of time today.”he told Infobae. MD was surprised when he saw the rubber. There was a burst near the center of the tread. It seemed like a miracle that it was able to end. Edgar Canet also had hallucinations. he resisted again. this is, dakar.

Luciano Benavidez took the lead after winning the 8th stage and the margin was only 10 seconds His opponent is the current Dakar champion and teammate Daniel Saunders. The Australian should remain the clear favorite to win. And Luciano probably won’t win this Dakar. But whatever he does, he has already won and shown the world what he is capable of. He has always been in the shadow of his older brother Kevin’s excellence. More introverted. It’s more rational, less expressive, and less intuitive. But on the bike, “Fastar” lives up to his nickname.

Shalayna bids farewell to victory

Luciano Benavidez is in third place overall with a time of 4 minutes and 47 seconds, apart from another favorite, Ricky Brabec (Honda), apart from a 10 second difference between him and Saunders. And Tosha Shalayna is in fourth place, already 20 minutes away, an insurmountable distance. The Valencian maintained his best pace until the fifth stage, when a mistake when exiting the bivouac shelter on the marathon stage resulted in a very severe penalty, but it was too heavy. That’s the rule. He went from two minutes behind the leader to 12 minutes behind, and he hasn’t looked up since then and hasn’t recovered.

He again lost significant time on the eighth stage, bidding farewell to the scepter 9 minutes and 47 seconds behind stage winner Luciano.

Luciano spent the entire day on the course, leading the way and not being overtaken by anyone, earning all the time bonuses and winning the eighth stage. sanders He was 2nd on the stage at 4’50”. brabec3rd place at 5’02”. On his side, edgar canetHaving started first (2nd in the starting order), he was 7th with a time of 15:06, giving him a very good starting position for Stage 9, the start of the marathon stages, but knowing how important it is to manage the rear tires to avoid something like the marathon in week 1, he was not an option in the overall standings.

However, the battle for the throne has only just begun. sanders, brabec And Luciano Benavidez, who no one expected. Stage 9 begins the first part of the terrifying marathon stage of the second week. And there are still 5 days left. Anything can happen.