Nacho Cornejo (Honda) was on the verge of winning the Dakar in 2021, but a serious crash left it with no options. Now he is trying again and has become the new leader of the motorcycle rankings for now, having achieved an unassailable victory in the 299 km, the fourth special stage of the rally, which closed the half marathon that started among the palm trees of Al on Monday. Hofuf. Today was Honda’s day, as they pulled off a fantastic one-two with American Ricky Brabec. Joan Barreda finished sixth and is approaching the top 10 in the general classification after two recent sanctions complicated the race where he shined on his new Hero mount.

Chilean cornel He used his starting position (sixth) to face the decisive part of a fast special race with advantage, dominating almost from start to finish with less navigation difficulty than expected.

BarredaReceiving a harsh 12-minute penalty for speeding this Monday (up from 8 on Sunday), he began to fall to 15th place and bounced back with another remarkable performance, finishing 7:15 minutes behind the winner. Build in Honda. The player from Torreblanca sits 12th with a total of 41:34 points, but he is closer to the “top 10” and still has many days to try to recover if he continues at this pace.

Ricky Brabec, the only American to win the Dakar (2020), is also on a spectacular rally, avoiding the risk of relegation and sanctions for now. Second in the stage and third in the general classification, behind the current leader. Ross BranchBarreda’s teammate in Hero had problems due to an incident and finished the stage with a sprained handlebar.

Kevin BenavidesThe current Dakar winner, who had recently undergone surgery for a fibula fracture, finished third, just 20 seconds behind Brabec, and finished fourth in the provisional overall standings, 20:39 ahead.