Dakar Stage 1: Sainz wins in Cars, Price tops Bike Field
Carlos Sainz Sr. (Shown above) has managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, erasing what looked like an insurmountable deficit to take Stage 1 of the 2021 Dakar Rally by 25 seconds over his teammate Stéphane Peterhansel.
The 2020 champion is now in control of the overall by just eight seconds over his teammate. What a show by the stars of the Mini clan!
BIKES
Toby Price took the spoils at the end of the first stage in Bisha for the Bikes. The two-time Dakar champion has started the 2021 edition on the right foot and is the first leader of the rally.
Kevin Benavides and Matthias Walkner were the other big winners of the day after finishing second and third, respectively, about half a minute behind Toby Price. The three men set the tune for a scorching start to the Dakar.
Today was a bad day at the office for defending champion Ricky Brabec, who crossed the line 18m32s behind stage winner Toby Price after getting lost near the start of the special. His teammate Joan Barreda and Pablo Quintanilla also conceded over fifteen minutes for similar reasons. These three men now have no choice but to go on the attack tomorrow.
QUAD
Alexandre Giroud slowly picked up steam during the first stage and ended up overtaking everyone else in the closing kilometers. The Frenchman beat a dangerous rival like Giovanni Enrico by 2’52’ and Pablo Copetti by almost five minutes.
LIGHTWEIGHT VEHICLES
Cristina Gutiérrez produced a flawless performance on the road to Bisha and left the competition in the dust in the lightweight OT3 prototype category. The young driver beat Josef Macháček by 16’34’ and Seth Quintero by 18’22’ to become the first female Dakar stage winner since Jutta Kleinschmidt in 2005!
Reinaldo Varela has claimed the first stage of the 2021 Dakar in the Can-Am category. The Brazilian winner of the 2018 edition beat Austin Jones by 28 seconds and ‘Chaleco’ López by 42. Last year’s runner-up, Sergey Karyakin, was off the pace and finished in fifth place, losing over three minutes and finishing behind Gerard Farrés.
TRUCKS
Dmitry Sotnikov is the winner of the first stage. The Kamaz driver got stronger as the kilometres went by and finished almost eight minutes ahead of Aleš Loprais’s Praga and Anton Shibalov’s Kamaz. Ayrat Mardeev ended up conceding 25 minutes after leading the race for part of the stage.