Dakar victory heightens tensions in bike world: Benavidez slams rivals over title, regains lead

The battle for the Dakar championship on motorcycles will be between two riders, including Argentina’s Luciano Benavies (KTM), who is aiming to become the first Touareg rider. And American Ricky Brabec (Honda) is aiming for his third title following 2020 and 2024. And after this Thursday’s battle on Stage 11, there are only two days left in the race, and the tension is high in a close race that will be determined by the details and promises to be exciting until the end.

The battle between the two big motorcycle brands, KTM and Honda, is always tense. But to this must be added the condemnation that Luciano Benavidez hurled as he reached the finish line after taking the lead from Brabec, just 23 seconds behind Ricky, who is currently second.

Skyler Howes’ Honda won the 11th stage by a 21-second margin over Van Beveren’s Honda, with Edgar Canet ahead of third place in 1 minute 15 seconds and fourth place Luciano Benavidez in 3 minutes 37 seconds. Tosha Chalayna maintained her podium spot in the overall standings by barely managing to stay four minutes behind the stage winner in the special.

Therefore, Luciano Benavidez will theoretically start fourth in stage 12, the final stage with a difference until the final day, with his great rival Ricky Brabec in front. In theory, Brabec could have an advantage by following more lines and starting from a further back position in order to accelerate as hard as he can for his third Dakar.

For this reason, when Luciano reached the goal against his rival, he did not hesitate to start accusing him. He revealed that Brabec slowed down on this stage 11 in a calculated way to minimize losses and ensure he could attack on stage 12. But most of all, he also hinted at strategy when he paused to help Daniel Saunders early in stage 10 after the reigning champion took a hard and ugly fall. For he knew that they would give him back the time he had stood to help the wounded, and at the same time he made sure that he resumed the march very late in his turn. Continue. Hold the remaining lines and attack with all your might.

Luciano explained as he reached the finish line.

“It was a difficult day with very broken and complicated terrain. I did well, I didn’t have any strategy and I didn’t slow down like Ricky[Brabec]did, and yesterday too when I slowed down with Daniel and got the time back after the other drivers opened the track. But hey, those times are gone. That’s what racing is like, so you have to know how to play. I’ve done the best I can. There are only two days left and I’m going to give it my all. The way we know how to play is still 100%,” said the Argentine, who is playing with a different injury to his left knee and a shoulder injury.

Shalayna will still be on the podium, but Sanders won’t go to the doctor

Another important focus of the race is the fight for the podium. he Valencia’s Tosha Chalayna maintained her third place overall and moved closer to a second consecutive podium at the Dakar.

He started the day with just two minutes behind Saunders, who was ranked fourth overall. However, the reigning champion was unable to maintain his best as he suffered a broken collarbone and damaged sternum.

Tosha will therefore have everything in her sights to finish third (following second place in 2025), making this race her second consecutive podium out of five starts in just three starts as an official Honda rider. And that will mean something important: Every time Tosha finishes the Dakar with Honda, she will be on the podium.

The Valencian driver is currently 15’16 inches behind the leaders and only a disastrous defeat for the first two cars will give him the crown.but he has a fourth with a good distance. Saunders did not want to go to the doctor after falling and sustaining an injury on the 10th stage, but nothing could be done to close the gap to the Spaniard.

The ‘Australian’ endured the pain and finished 11th on the stage in 10 minutes 28 seconds, further separating him from Tosha.Anders was fourth overall, 23 minutes and 32 seconds off the lead, just over eight minutes from Tosha Chalayna at the bottom of the podium.

In that respect, edgar canetafter a difficult test in which he had problems with his wheels and gas tank and had to overcome in the second marathon stage, he rose to the top again in the 11th stage. dakaroccupies the third position on the stage. Once again, he showed off his amazing speed.