Mason Klein wins the second stage of the Dakar on a motorcycle

Returning to racing after six elbow surgeries due to a fall a year ago at the Dakar 2022, Sanders had the stage in his pocket or so it seemed, but nothing can be taken for sure in the endurance test. aim. He failed in the dune field from GasGas and handed the victory over to Klein.Contrary to what happened to him in the first stage, he went from less to more.

Facing his second Dakar after becoming the best rookie of last year, Klein broke his record in the rally. convinced on Sunday “could gain a stage in the future”. You already have it.

The second part of Dakar had a special distance of 430 kilometers towards Al Ula, most of it off roads, some areas are filled with rocks between canyons and finally the horizon is full of sand dunes and majestic Nabataean temples.

The rains of the last days left the sand quite wet and the tracks of the pilots who opened the runway were used by the rest. Ricky Brabec (Honda) gets first start after victoryWith the help of penalties on Sunday.

Rookie Michael Docherty (Husqvarna) was surprised with the best interim time at kilometer 48 (42:24), while Spaniard Tosha Schareina (KTM) from Aspar finished second (42:32). Behind them were German Sebastian Buhler (Hero), Sanders, Portuguese Joaquim Rodrigues (Hero) and Lorenzo Santolino (Sherco) from Salamanca.

The Rally2 registered rookie retained first place after the 105th kilometer, with a margin of 8 seconds against Sanders and 25 seconds against Schareina. Three Heroes were in driver 6 at the time: Argentine Franco Caimi, Buhler and Rodrigues.

At the first refueling point (150 km), Docherty did not give up and dominated the stage, trailing Sanders by 14 seconds. The South African, who has lived in Dubai for three years, stood out with the number 111. Santolino from the Spaniards lost more than four minutes.

push for victory

rhythm Sanders had the upper hand and moved up to first place at kilometer 186., with 27 seconds against South African. Among the heroes, Buhler was just over a minute behind.

More than three hours into the stage, just 200 kilometers from the finish line, the Australian extended their dominance with 1:34 against the German, who was just two seconds better than Docherty. Santolino was almost six minutes behind the leader and Barreda was 17 seconds behind.

Sanders’ rivals seemed to be ending.. At kilometer 269, Buhler slipped into eleventh place for more than seven minutes as Docherty and prologue winner Australian Toby Price (KTM) took more than three minutes of lease as the road to victory was clearly assumed.

The Australian scored 3:25 against his compatriot, 304 kilometers and 18 seconds after Docherty. But then In the struggle, the American Mason Klein (KTM) emerged.

Klein was 2:04 behind Sanders at the penultimate checkpoint (348km), Price was behind 3:17, and Botswana’s Branch (Hero) was just two seconds from the interim podium.

The end of the stage was like a pulse.. At 386 kilometers, just 56 seconds separating the first two. The win was among them and was taken by the Californian who will be racing for the first time in this year’s RallyGP.

The winner invested 5:23:24 and was eventually joined by a German on the podium. Bühler (at 1:09) and North America Skyler Howes (Husqvarna), at 1:13. and Australia Toby Price (at 2:16). Sanders even finished the race behind Barreda, who finished 2:32, and Santolino, who was behind 3:10.