Ricky Brabec (Honda) successfully avoided navigation ‘pitfalls’ on the ninth stage of the Dakar Rally and achieved a ‘swing’ in the general classification and now leads by over seven minutes (7::09) Botswana Ross Branch (Hero) about. Stage victory went to another Honda rider, Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren, who managed to hold off Brabec at the finish line thanks to his two-minute bonuses and finished third overall, 11:16 behind.
Another Honda driver, Nacho CornejoHe ranks fourth with 13:46 and is the current Dakar champion Kevin Benavides It’s already 28 minutes away and Toby Priceto 35. In short, we can say this while there are only three stages ahead of us, two of which are difficult. Ricky Brabec The 32-year-old Californian is starting to emerge as the main contender for the Touareg, where he became the first American winner of the Dakar in the motorcycle category in 2020.
It started this Tuesday with the shock of the death of the rally’s director, Carles Falcón. David Castera It was communicated to all participants of Dakar 2024 late yesterday. The Motards are logically shocked by this news, but everyone knows what is at stake in this adventure, especially on two wheels.
Brabec set a strong pace at the start, but always under pressure from his partner Van Beveren, He lost the stage victory he achieved on the track on Monday by falling in the last section and tried to compensate for this with his second stage victory in this edition.
The Dakar leader did not slow down because his main aim was to hold off Branch, his biggest rival for victory. And he achieved his goal, with the Botswanan starting the day just 42 seconds behind the American and trying to minimize the damage by giving up more than six minutes.