The French Sébastien Loeb and Adrien Van Beveren won the dreaded sixth stage of the Dakar 2024. Here they are placed in the general classification, when Yazeed Al-Rajhi, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Stéphane Peterhansel lost everything at the end of this special 48 hours without assistance.
[Mis à jour le 12 janvier à 11h22] The queen stage of the Dakar 2024, called the “48-hour stage” because it was contested over two days without any assistance, will have been merciless for several favorites for final victory. Particularly in the cars where three contenders saw all their hopes of triumph disappear on January 19 in Yanbu, the end of the 46th edition of the legendary rally entirely contested this year in Saudi Arabia. Yazeed Al-Rajhi, leader of the general classification before setting off on Thursday morning, Nasser Al-Attiyah, outgoing winner, and Stéphane Peterhansel, record holder for victories in the race (14), lost everything on the 549 kilometer loop carried out around by Shubaytah.
The Saudi retired after rolling his Toyota from kilometer 51 on Thursday. The Qatari, who had rather well limited the damage during the first day despite the disadvantage of having to open the track, finally let 2h45 slip away after very seriously damaging the left front wheel of his Prodrive buggy at kilometer 530 on Friday. As for the Frenchman, sixth before this stage trap in the dunes, he lost more than three hours due to a hydraulic problem which cost him his power steering. Like Nasser Al-Attiyah, now 17th overall, Stéphane Peterhansel (22nd) will now try to have fun by chasing stage victories if possible. The misfortune of some making the happiness of others, a few drivers are the big winners of this stage of a new kind. This is particularly the case for Carlos Sainz, new leader of the rally before the rest day.
The Spaniard, third in the general classification forty-eight hours ago, took second place in the stage and gained a lot of time on numerous rivals. At 61 years old, the Madrilenian proves that he is still in the game and more than ever well placed to win his fourth Dakar. Halfway through the rally, Carlos Sainz is 20 minutes ahead of Swede Mattias Ekström, also on Audi, and almost half an hour ahead of Sébastien Loeb, the other big beneficiary of this marathon stage. The Frenchman, who had deliberately lost time during the fifth stage, to the point of deliberately, according to his statements, taking a 15-minute penalty by missing a way-point, in order to be able to follow in the footsteps of the openers in the dunes, won his 25th victory in the rally this Friday. He made a jump in the general classification, going from ninth to third place, and can still believe in his chances of a first final victory on the Dakar.
There were much fewer upheavals on the motorcycle side even if, here too, a Frenchman did well during this sixth stage. Adrien Van Beveren, extremely consistent since the start of the race, was the fastest in the sand. Riding his Honda, the Northerner beat the Australian Toby Price (at 4’13”), the American Ricky Brabec (at 5’02”), the Australian Daniel Sanders (at 6’55”) and the Botswanan Ross Branch (at 9’40”). The latter also lost his leadership seat at the expense of Ricky Brabec but the two men held each other in less than a minute (51 seconds).
Adrien Van Beveren is more than ever in ambush after having made up half of his deficit in forty-eight hours. Now third overall, he is only a little over nine minutes behind the leader. Enough to fuel great ambitions before the second part of the rally which will leave Riyadh on Sunday.
Cars: the general classification at the end of the 6th stage
1. (+2) Sainz/Cruz (Audi) in 24h59’32”
2. (+2) Ekström/Bergkvist (Audi) at 20’21”
3. (+6) Loeb/Lurquin (Prodrive Hunter) at 29’31”
4. (+6) Moraes/Monleon (Toyota) at 1h04′
5. (+3) From Mevius/Panseri (Toyota) at 1h09’47”
6. (+5) De Villiers/Murphy (Toyota) at 1h25’16”
7. (+5) Prokop/Chytka (Ford) at 1h35’04”
8. (-3) Serradori/Minaudier (Century) at 1h52’20”
9. (+9) Goczal/Mena (Taurus) at 1:52:30
10. (+3) Botterill/Cummigs (Toyota) at 1h54′
………..
17. (-15) Al-Attiyah/Baumel (Prodrive Hunter) at 2h40’54”
22. (-16) Peterhansel/Boulanger (Audi) at 3h23’04”
Motorcycles: the general classification at the end of the 6th stage
1. (+2) Ricky Brabec (USA/Honda) in 27h11’21”
2. (-1) Ross Branch (BWA/Hero) at 51″
3. (+1) Adrien Van Beveren (FRA/Honda) at 9’21”
4. (-2) Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo (CHI/Honda) at 14’14”
5. (+3) Toby Price (AUS/KTM) at 27′
6. (-1) Kévin Benavides (ARG/KTM) at 28’33”
7. (+2) Daniel Sanders (AUS/GASGAS) at 35’50”
8. (-1) Luciano Benavides (ARG/Husqvarna) at 47’26”
9. (+5) Stefan Svitko (SVQ/KTM) at 1h07’42”
10. (+6) Jeanloup Lepan (FRA/KTM) at 1h31’42”
………..
17. (-11) Pablo Quintanilla (CHI/Honda) at 2h14’41”
The 2024 Dakar route
- Friday January 5-Prologue: Al-Ula – Al-Ula → 128 km including 28km of special (Winners: Ekström/Schareina)
- Saturday January 6-Stage 1: Alula – Al Henakiyah → 541km including 414km of special (Winners: De Mevius/Branch)
- Sunday January 7-Stage 2: Al Henakiyah – Al Duwadimi → 655km including 463km of special (Winners: Peterhansel/Cornejo Florimo)
- Monday January 8-Stage 3: Al Duwadimi – Al Salamiya → 733km including 438km of special (Winners: Moraes/K. Benavides)
- Tuesday January 9-Stage 4: Al Salamiya – Al-Hofuf → 631km including 299km of special (Winners: Loeb/Cornejo Florimo)
- Wednesday January 10-Stage 5: Al-Hofuf – Shubaytah → 645km including 118km of special (Winners: Al-Attiyah/Quintanilla)
- Thursday 11 and Friday 12 January-Stage 6: Shubaytah – Shubaytah → 758km including 549km of special (Winners: Loeb/Van Beveren)
- Saturday January 13: Rest
- Sunday January 14-Stage 7: Riyadh – Al Duwadimi → 873km including 483km of special
- Monday January 15-Stage 8: Al Duwadimi – Hail → 678km including 458km of special
- Tuesday January 16-Stage 9: Hail – Al Ula → 639km including 417km of special
- Wednesday January 17-Stage 10: Al Ula – Al Ula → 612km including 371km of special
- Thursday January 18-Stage 11: Al Ula – Yanbu → 587km including 480km of special
- Friday January 19-Stage 12: Yanbu-Yanbu → 328km including 175km special
The main entrants in the car category
– Al Attiyah/Baumel (Prodrive Hunter) – n°200
– Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk (Toyota Hilux Overdrive) – n°201
– Peterhansel/Boulanger (Audi RS Q e-tron E2) – n°202
– Loeb/Lurquin (Prodrive Hunter) – n°203
– Sainz/Cruz (Audi RS Q e-tron E2) – n°204
– Yacopini/Oliveiras (Toyota Hilux Overdrive) – n°205
– Moraes/Monleon (Toyota GR DKR Hilux) – n°206
– Ekström/Bergkvist (Audi RS Q e-tron E2) – n°207
– De Villiers/Murphy (Toyota GR DKR Hilux) – n°209
– Roma/Bravo (Ford Ranger) – n°210
– Chicherit/Winocq (Toyota Hilux Overdrive) – n°211
– Quintero/Zenz (Toyota GR DKR Hilux) – n°216
– De Mévius/Panseri (Toyota Hilux Overdrive) – n°221
– Baumgart/Cincea (Prodrive Hunter) – n°247
The main entrants in the motorcycle category
– Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna) – n°1
– Toby Price (KTM) – n°2
– Sam Sunderland (GASGAS) – n°4
– Daniel Sanders (GASGAS) – n°5
– Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) – n°7
– Ricky Brabec (Honda) – n°9
– Skyler Howes (Honda) – n°10
– Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo (Honda) – n°11
– Romain Dumontier (Husqvarna) – n°16
– Adrien Van Beveren (Honda) – n°42
– Ross Branch (Hero) – n°46
– Kevin Benavides (KTM) – n°47
– Tosha Schareina (Honda) – n°73
– Joan Barredo (Hero) – n°88
On which channel to follow the Dakar 2024?
There are changes in 2024. A privileged partner of the rally from the start, France Télévisions will no longer be the main broadcaster of the race this year. Only the Journal du Dakar will be offered each evening to viewers of the public service channel around 8:50 p.m. This 46th edition marks the arrival of the Dakar on the L’Equipe Channel. Broadcast unencrypted on TNT, on channel 21, the channel of the major sports daily will cover the race in detail.
The big live show will allow you to see the arrival of the main competitors every day between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. with several journalists and consultants on site to collect the participants’ first reactions. It will also be possible to watch the channel’s Dakar Journal from 6:20 p.m. while the summary of each stage will be broadcast at 8 p.m. For those who were unable to watch, the best moments from each stage will be rebroadcast every day from 11 a.m. Note that the Eurosport group, via its channels 1 and 2, will still follow the race, with a summary of around fifty minutes each day at 8 p.m., 11:30 p.m. or the next morning at 8 a.m.