Dakar 2022 – Stage 10

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Stage 10 saw riders entry the rally from Wadi Ad Dawasir and making a long 759 km journey to Bisha, including a 375-kilometer timed special mostly made up of fast sandy tracks, with a couple of dirt sections and dunes adding to the mix. Although navigation was relatively straightforward, it was still easy to make a costly mistake when picking a route through the stage.

Despite his relatively late start position into today’s special, Toby Price decided to remain completely focused on his roadbook throughout the stage. The tactic paid off as the two-time Dakar champ delivered a near-faultless run through the challenging stage, slowly moving up the order and taking the lead on time by kilometre 250.

Toby trails the current event leader by just under 28 minutes. A sizeable gap, but one the Aussie hopes to reduce over the final two days of racing.

Price came home ahead of Husqvarna’s Luciano Benavides and Yamaha’s Adrien Van Beveren, with Joan Barreda and Lorenzo Santolino completing the top five.

The overall standings also see a reshuffle with Van Beveren moving into the lead, 5m15s ahead of Pablo Quintanilla, while Sam Sunderland drops to third, 5m59s off the lead. Matthias Walkner now sits fourth, Barreda fifth and Toby Price advances to sixth.

Toby Price – P1

“It’s been a really good day for me today. I focused on my roadbook the whole way and did a good job with my navigation with only a couple of small mistakes over the whole stage. I’ve moved nicely up the order overall, but there is still a bit of a gap to the front guys. As we know, anything can happen in rally, so I’ll give it my all for these last two days and we’ll see where we end up.”

Overcoming the difficulties on today’s stage, Luciano showed great maturity and skill to take maximum advantage of his seventh-place start position and pushed his way up through the field to ultimately challenge for the stage win on his FR 450 Rally. Completing the gruelling special just two minutes and nine seconds behind winner Toby Price, Benavides now moves up to 13th in the provisional overall standings.

Luciano Benavides – P2

“I’m really pleased with my day today. It feels good to be right up there near the top and putting in the sort of results I know I’m capable of. I focused a lot on my navigation today, but there were still some tricky notes on the roadbook and some parts of the route were quite confusing. I made a couple of small mistakes, but the guys up front made mistakes too and it was possible for me to make up quite a lot of time over the whole stage. We have two days left now, so I’ll keep pushing and hopefully have a good, strong finish to the rally.”

Even with his less than favourable starting position on stage 10, Adrien Van Beveren set off ninth yet set a blistering pace to quickly reel in the leading riders. From there, the recently turned 31-year-old rode his own race, navigating superbly through the rocky canyons near to the end of the 374-kilometre special to post the third fastest time – his best stage result of the rally so far. Following another strong day in the desert, Van Beveren now enjoys a healthy advantage at the top of the overall standings.

Adrien Van Beveren – P3

“Like every day I focused heavily on my roadbook and rode the stage with a strong pace throughout. Navigation wasn’t easy today, especially with so many canyons in places, but I did a really good job, I think. I did struggle to find a couple of waypoints but otherwise it was another great stage for me. I went as fast as I could near the end and ended up in a good spot on the stage, and also in the overall. Tomorrow is a big day and opening will be difficult, but I’m ready for the challenge.”

Joan Barreda – P4

“It was a complicated stage, especially in terms of navigation, where I had to turn back a few kilometres to find a waypoint. In the end I found some good pace to attack over the final kilometres. I saw that there were strategies from some other riders… I also picked up a penalty at the entrance of a controlled zone when I lost concentration. I’m not sure what the penalty will be. I’m not really sure how it all went, but it was a stage from which we had to salvage something. I don’t think I’m in a bad position for tomorrow, but it won’t be easy: there will be a lot of sand and plenty of dunes… I’m going to give it everything I’ve got for the two remaining days.”

Adrien’s Monster Energy Yamaha Rally Team teammate Andrew Short also enjoyed a successful stage 10 with the American securing the sixth fastest time, earning his best stage finish at the 2022 Dakar. As the sixth rider to enter the special, Andrew did a tremendous job in maintaining his high pace through the technical stage. And with the exception of a minor navigational mistake, he successfully brought his Yamaha WR450F Rally home among the leading group of riders.

Andrew Short – P6

“Stage 10 was really fun and I’m really happy to have posted by best result of the rally. It was a cool stage that flowed well with a bit of everything, rocks, canyons, some dunes, and even some dust which we haven’t, fortunately, seen too much of this year. I did make one small mistake which cost me a little bit of time, but not too much, so maybe my result would have been better without that. We’re getting close to the finish line now so two to go and I’m excited for tomorrow.”

Reaching the final stages of his first ever Dakar Rally, Danilo Petrucci continues to put in highly commendable results among the more established rally racers. Completing stage 10 in 11th place, the former MotoGP™ star is now fully focused on the final two stages of the event and claiming a Dakar finish at his first attempt.

Danilo Petrucci P11

“Today was tough because it became very hot as the day went on and then it’s easier to make mistakes. I’m pleased with my result, but I didn’t push too hard because I’m really close to the end now and my main goal has always been to finish the race. Two more days to go, and I’m looking forward to getting to the end.”

Pablo Quintanilla, 13th on the day, moved up into second place in the overall rally standings with two days left before the rally ends in Jeddah. The Chilean carved out notable times throughout the stage, pulling ahead at the start, before eventually dropping seven minutes to the day’s winner. Tomorrow, on the Bisha loop, his goal will be to finish as far ahead as possible.

Pablo Quintanilla – P13

“I’m happy; it was a good day. Today it was important to manage the race well ahead of tomorrow’s stage which will be key to defining this Dakar. I had some references from the riders in front of me and I tried to manage it in the best way possible, so as not to lose time and to be able to start from a good position tomorrow. I think it went well. The race is still open and tomorrow will be an intense day, where we will have to push all day long. We’re going to try to rest now so that we are in good shape for tomorrow’s stage.”

Ricky Brabec and José Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Cornejo had the tough task of opening the track today. The pair led for most of the day, only shedding time towards the end of the special.

Ricky Brabec – P15

“Today was good. This was stage 10, so we’re almost at the finish. I was up front with Nacho most of the day. We made a slight mistake which cost a little time, but in the end it was perfect for us because we are in a good spot for stage 11 which is supposed to be tricky. Like we said before, we don’t know which stage is tricky and which is not. It’s up in the air as far as strategy goes. Tomorrow we are in a good spot to push and see what we have to do. I’m very happy with this. The team’s doing a good job. After tomorrow we will know exactly where we’ll finish. I feel we have a lot of energy, so we’ll do our best.”

José Ignacio Cornejo – P24

“It was difficult today. I knew that I would have to open the track and that it would be complicated. I was doing well until I arrived before the refuelling in a complex area and I lost a bit of time. Then I tried not to lose my concentration and to keep a good pace to finish the stage well, making up some of the lost time. Tomorrow will be tough and it will be good to start from behind. I think we can recover a few more positions in the general standings.”

Hot on the heels of his incredible ride yesterday, GASGAS Factory Racing’s Sam Sunderland was fired up for a repeat performance on today’s stage 10 of the 2022 Dakar Rally. Frustratingly, an unfortunate mistake in a series of rocky canyons prevented the early rally leader from featuring at the top of the timesheets today. However, thanks to his impressive stage results through the first nine days, Sam remains well-placed in the provisional overall standings in second, just under six minutes behind the current leader.

Sam Sunderland – P19

“Day 10 is in the books and it was a tough one. Early on, Mason Klein crashed so I stopped to make sure he was ok as it looked like he’d had a big one, but I think he’s ok. I then set off and things were going good. I felt strong on the bike and my pace was solid. But then I ended up in the wrong canyon near the end and lost a bit of time. With two days to go and the times so close, it’s too close to call. It’s wide open so it certainly makes for an exciting race!”

Setting off as the fourth rider to enter today’s special, Matthias Walkner caught and passed the riders ahead of him by the halfway point, and from there had the unenviable task of opening what was arguably the toughest part of the stage. A couple of small errors ended up with the Austrian losing several minutes to his rivals, but despite the setback, Matthias still lies well within the top five overall and will enjoy a strong start position for tomorrow’s penultimate stage 11.

Matthias Walkner – P28

“The Dakar is always a little bit up and down and today after I hit the front, I lost some time with a couple of small mistakes. The sun was really high today and it made visibility quite bad, which in turn made the pistes really difficult to see when you’re out front. It’s frustrating, but that’s always the way it is. Up to that point I think I was riding really well and making up good time. We still have two very long stages to go, so I’ll get some rest tonight and then be ready to attack again tomorrow.”

Unfortunately for Kevin Benavides, his 2022 Dakar Rally campaign came to a close following a technical issue on stage 10. Starting the special in third, and making good time, the reigning Dakar Champion was forced to stop at kilometer 133. Unable to complete the stage, Kevin will return to the bivouac and hopefully re-start the event tomorrow, although he will not be eligible to feature in the final classification.

Tomorrow’s Stage 10

Tomorrow will undoubtedly be one of the most interesting special stages of recent years, where several riders will make their bids for a final podium place in Jeddah the day after tomorrow. The battle will be epic.

The loop to the Bisha bivouac will feature a total of 346 kilometres of timed section out of the 501-kilometre total stage with 155 kilometres of liaison sections. Large helpings of sand and dunes will be present on the menu of this, the most decisive stage of the Dakar 2022.

Dakar 2022 Stage 10 Results

Dakar 2022 Standings After Stage 10

Source: MCNews.com.au