Toby Price tops opening stage of Dakar 2021

Toby Price tops opening stage of Dakar 2021

Dakar Rally 2021 – Stage 1


Toby Price has taken an early lead to the Dakar Rally in 2021, claiming the Stage 1 win, as broken, stony and zigzagging pistes severely reduced the average speeds and navigation proved tricky on a deceptive route that took in several dry river crossings.

Toby Price took the lead halfway through the special and never relented – Image by Rally Zone

Ricky Brabec had the task of opening the day’s stage and navigating the 277 km special, with Joan Barreda and Daniel Sanders in close contention. It didn’t take long into the special for challenges to appear, Brabec trailing Andrew Short by nearly 12-minutes at the first time check, and Barreda also losing eight minutes.

Yamaha’s Franco Caimi meanwhile posted the initial fastest time to the first check, with teammates Adrien Van Beveren, Andrew Short and Jamie McCanney in the leading group.

Adrien Van Beveren – Image by Rally Zone

Xavier De Soultrait then took an early lead after reaching that first time check, outpacing Caimi, however it wouldn’t last with Australian Toby Price taking control at km 135, pulling a 38-second lead.

Brabec meanwhile continued to struggle, now 18-minutes off leading pace halfway through the stage, as Price extended his lead to 1m33s over Kevin Benavides at km 222.

Toby Price opened his 2021 Dakar Rally campaign with the Stage 1 win – Image by Rally Zone

Shortly after Price officially claimed the stage win, marking a great start to his 2021 Dakar efforts, while Kevin Benavides and Matthias Walkner completed the top three. Leading the provisional standings, Price will open Monday’s stage two.

Toby Price

“Overall, the day has gone well. Navigation was certainly tricky today – it was hard to find the right pistes and valleys and annoyingly I managed to get lost a little bit on the last few kilometers to the finish. Other than a few other little mistakes, the rest of the stage was good. I’m happy with how I looked after the bike and the tires because with the new rules we really have to be careful. Looking ahead at the whole race, I think there are going to be some big swings in the standings – the plan is to try and stay consistent and not lose too much time. I’m opening tomorrow so hopefully I won’t make too many big mistakes and we can keep this momentum going.”

Kevin Benavides took full advantage oh his teammates misfortune. The Argentinean Monster Energy Honda Team rider kept up a relentless pace throughout the stage, catching the riders ahead and finishing by opening the track as the race headed for the Bisha finish-line.

Kevin Benavides

“Today was quite a difficult day for the first stage of the Dakar. There was a lot of navigation with very complicated and technical areas and tracks filled with rocks. At the beginning of the special, it was difficult for me to find the right feeling with the bike and the reading of the Roadbook, but then I began to loosen up and feel more at ease. In the final 80 kilometres I managed to catch the guys in front and opened the track, so it was a good day and I am very happy about it. This has just started and this Dakar Rally is already really intense. We will have to make the most of every single day.”

Kevin Benavides – Image by Rally Zone

Matthias Walkner put in a characteristically solid ride for third quickest on the opening stage. Riding consistently fast over the 277km special, the experienced Austrian minimized his mistakes to ultimately reach the finish just over 30 seconds behind Price.

Matthias Walkner

“It turned out to be quite a tough day today. It was only 277km, but after a long liaison in the morning the stage was quite tiring, especially with its tricky navigation. There was one really technical section that looked more like the Erzbergrodeo than the Dakar, but the mix of terrain was a good thing and definitely very challenging. I’m happy with my start and looking forward to continuing tomorrow.”

Matthias Walkner completed the Stage 1 top three – Image by Rally Zone

Prologue winner and defending champion Brabec meanwhile finished the stage 18m32s behind the leading pace in 24th, with Australian Daniel Sanders 25th (+19m51s).

Ricky Brabec

“We won the prologue, but unfortunately, it hit us hard. We opened today and it wasn’t really as easy as we were expecting. The other guys started back and they dealt their cards a little bit better than we did. We didn’t really sit back in the prologue which led us up to the front. Stage one was difficult to navigate. It wasn’t fast. There were tons of rocks and slower speeds. I was trying to manage the rear tyre as we have to go more than one day on this tyre. I wasn’t sure of the speed and some of the other guys were on the gas a little bit harder. Hopefully in the end it’ll all pay off but, as of now, it’s only the first day and we have eleven left. Tomorrow we’ll start a bit further back with sand dunes and sand piste. Hopefully we can push up and make some time back.”

Ricky Brabec – Image by Rally Zone

With the leaders making a mistake before the first checkpoint, Sanders found himself opening the stage – a hugely demanding task for the rally rookie. Nevertheless, putting in a solid ride with no crashes, Daniel ultimately posted the 18th fastest time on the special. A seven-minute penalty, awarded for speeding, unfortunately relegated him down to 25th, both on the stage and in the provisional overall standings, heading into day two.

Daniel Sanders

“I really enjoyed that, the terrain was incredible with loads of rocks and some very tricky notes in the road book. It was really cool to start my first ever Dakar stage up near the front, some of the top guys made a bit of a mistake early on, but I wasn’t quite confident to trust my instincts and ended up losing a little time there, too. After that I was able to lead at the front for a while, which felt amazing. Overall, I’m good, the bike’s good, I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Daniel Sanders ended the day 25th, just behind Ricky Brabec – Image by Rally Zone

Sam Sunderland brought home fourth, ahead of Lorenzo Santolino, while Soultrait had to settle for sixth. Caimi, Howes, Luciano Benavides and Mena completed the top-10, with 8m16s separating first from tenth.

Sam Sunderland

“It was a really tricky stage today with some extremely technical sections – rocks upon rocks – and you had no choice but to trickle through in first gear. Overall, I feel happy with my performance, I caught a bit of dust in the first part, but I suppose with setting off 27th that was always going to happen. Working my way through to fourth at the finish is really encouraging though. Getting the road books just 20 minutes from the start makes things the same for everyone, but also makes our overall strategy difficult to gauge this early on. I’m setting off fourth tomorrow, so hopefully I can make up a little more time.”

Michael Burgess (BAS Dakar KTM Racing Team) meanwhile came home 34th, 38m19s behind leader Price. Joseph Houlihan (Nomadas Adventure) landed 68th.

Stage two of the 2021 Dakar Rally will see riders take on the first sand dunes of the event. Each rider will have their navigational skills put to the test throughout the 457-kilometre special and once completed, end the day in the town of Wadi Ad-Dawasir.

2021 Dakar Rally Stage 1 Results (Updated)

Pos Rider Nat Team DSS ASS
1 T. PRICE AUS RED BULL KTM FACTORY TEAM 08:59:00= (9) 00:00:00=
2 K. BENAVIDES ARG MONSTER ENERGY HONDA TEAM 2021 08:53:00= (7) 00:00:31=
3 M. WALKNER AUT RED BULL KTM FACTORY TEAM 09:18:00= (18) 00:00:32▲
4 S. SUNDERLAND GBR RED BULL KTM FACTORY TEAM 09:28:00= (26) 00:02:03▲
5 L. SANTOLINO ESP SHERCO FACTORY 09:14:00= (16) 00:04:23▲
6 X. DE SOULTRAIT FRA HT RALLY RAID HUSQVARNA RACING 09:20:00= (19) 00:04:35▼
7 F. CAIMI ARG MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA RALLY TEAM 09:10:00= (14) 00:04:48▲
8 S. HOWES USA BAS DAKAR KTM RACING TEAM 09:08:00= (13) 00:05:25▲
9 L. BENAVIDES ARG ROCKSTAR ENERGY HUSQVARNA FACTORY RACING 09:12:00= (15) 00:07:37▼
10 O. MENA ESP FN SPEED – RIEJU TEAM 09:24:00= (22) 00:08:16▲
11 M. MICHEK CZE ORION – MOTO RACING GROUP 09:26:00= (24) 00:08:47▼
12 A. SHORT USA MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA RALLY TEAM 08:50:00= (6) 00:08:50▼
13 A. VAN BEVEREN FRA MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA RALLY TEAM 09:16:00= (17) 00:09:35▲
14 R. BRANCH BWA MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA RALLY TEAM 08:44:00= (4) 00:09:36▼
15 S. SVITKO SVK SLOVNAFT RALLY TEAM 09:23:00= (21) 00:10:16▲
16 JI. CORNEJO FLORIMO CHL MONSTER ENERGY HONDA TEAM 2021 09:27:00= (25) 00:12:24▲
17 J. PEDRERO GARCIA ESP FN SPEED – RIEJU TEAM 09:30:00= (28) 00:12:37▲
18 M. GIEMZA POL ORLEN TEAM 09:06:00= (12) 00:13:13=
19 J. MCCANNEY GBR MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA RALLY TEAM 09:04:00= (11) 00:14:44▲
20 J. BARREDA BORT ESP MONSTER ENERGY HONDA TEAM 2021 08:38:00= (2) 00:15:25▲
21 A. TOMICZEK POL ORLEN TEAM 09:25:00= (23) 00:15:34▲
22 P. QUINTANILLA CHL ROCKSTAR ENERGY HUSQVARNA FACTORY RACING 08:56:00= (8) 00:15:35▲
23 J. RODRIGUES PRT HERO MOTOSPORTS TEAM RALLY 09:02:00= (10) 00:16:30▲
24 R. BRABEC USA MONSTER ENERGY HONDA TEAM 2021 08:35:00= (1) 00:18:32▲
25 D. SANDERS AUS KTM FACTORY TEAM 08:41:00= (3) 00:19:51▼
35 M. BURGESS AUS BAS DAKAR KTM RACING TEAM 09:36:30= (39) 00:38:19=
68 AJ. HOULIHAN AUS NOMADAS ADVENTURE 10:12:30= (95) 02:06:17▼

2021 Dakar Schedule

Stage Date Start > Finish Total Special
P Saturday, January 2, 2021 Jeddah > Jeddah 11 km 11 km
1 Sunday, January 3, 2021 Jeddah > Bisha 622 km 277 km
2 Monday, January 4, 2021 Bisha > Wadi Al Dawasir 685 km 457 km
3 Tuesday, January 5, 2021 Wadi Al Dawasir > Wadi Al Dawasir 630 km 403 km
4 Wednesday, January 6, 2021 Wadi Al Dawasir > Riyadh 813 km 337 km
5 Thursday, January 7, 2021 Riyadh > Buraydah 625 km 419 km
6 Friday, January 8, 2021 Buraydah > Ha’il 655 km 485 km
Rest Saturday, January 9, 2021 Ha’il (Rest Day)
7 Sunday, January 10, 2021 Ha’il > Sakaka 737 km 471 km
8 Monday, January 11, 2021 Sakaka > Neom 709 km 375 km
9 Tuesday, January 12, 2021 Neom > Neom 579 km 465 km
10 Wednesday, January 13, 2021 Neom > Al-Ula 583 km 342 km
11 Thursday, January 14, 2021 Al-Ula > Yanbu 557 km 511 km
12 Friday, January 15, 2021 Yanbu > Jeddah 452 km 225 km

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