Dakar | Motorbike, Stage 10: Brabec wins the Honda hat-trick

It won't be game, set and match but it looks a lot like it, because with two stages to go Honda seems to have put a serious mortgage on the 2024 Dakar. The Japanese company has in fact placed an amazing hat-trick in the tenth stage, which included 371 km timed in a ring around the Al-Ula bivouac.

The signature then is that of the general leader, the American Ricky Brabec, who waited for the hottest moment of the race to achieve his first stage victory. A success that was certified only at the finish line, as it was made possible by the 2'25″ of bonuses he earned by opening the track in the first part of the route. It is thanks to these, in fact, that he jumped ahead of his teammate Nacho Cornejo for just two seconds, denying the Chilean his fourth goal in this edition.

Completing the hat-trick is the Frenchman Adrien van Beveren, who in turn was able to count on 4'37″ of bonuses and therefore placed himself just 20″ behind Brabec. All this while their main rival Ross Branch only placed seventh at 3'45″. To be honest, the Hero driver tried to attack in the first part of the special, leading for the first 138 km and appearing at km 307 with a handful of seconds behind Brabec. However, he couldn't count on any type of bonus and this delayed him when it was time to do the math at the finish line.

Overall, therefore, the Botswana driver is now 10'54″ behind Brabec. A gap that still keeps him in the running, but which now complicates things quite a bit, given the always very narrow gap that we have seen between the protagonists of the motorcycle category in this edition. Not to mention that he is now literally hounded by the other two HRC standard bearers, because van Beveren is third at 11'46″ and Cornejo fourth at 13'48″.

This tenth stage also brought some surprises, but one above all. If a fourth fastest time of the day can be expected from Daniel Sanders and his GasGas, it is much less so the fifth that the Indian Harith Noah was able to show off, who finished 1'55″ behind Brabec at the finish line, but for long stretches he even dreamed of the feat with his Sherco, given that at the last check at km 343 he was in command of the caravan.

The feeling that the fight at the top was now reserved for the top four has now been definitively confirmed, because from fifth place down in the general classification the gaps increase to over half an hour. Completing the top 5 is again the winner of the last edition Kevin Benavides, still first among the KTM standard bearers, who however today was unable to do better than the eighth time at 4'31″ and therefore finds himself at 32' overall 43″. The Argentine increased his margin over his teammate Toby Price, tenth of the stage today, who follows him in sixth position at 42'00″.

Then the general positions are very clear with the Husqvarna of world champion Luciano Benavides seventh at 51'42″, followed by Sanders, who saw his gap exceed an hour, despite today having paid only 47″ on Brabec. The top 10 is then completed with the veteran Stefan Svitko and Martin Michek, with the latter only lingering in the final part of the stage, after even leading it in the very first kilometres.

Dakar 2024 | General Moto ranking after Stage 10