Dakar | Motorbike, Stage 8: Kevin Benavides ruins the party for Honda

The battle in the motorcycle category is one of the closest ever in this edition of the Dakar and the final ranking of the eighth stage, on paper one of the most challenging of the Saudi route, shows a perfect postcard with the top ten all within less than five and a half minutes. With the feeling, however, that the men in the classification played a little in the final kilometers to have a better starting position tomorrow, also because the final finish line in Yanbu is getting closer and closer and it now seems quite clear that this year the victory could be played out more for a matter of seconds than minutes.

Today's special included 458 kilometres, interspersed with a long transfer on asphalt after km 165. And the curious thing is that after the first timed section it was the leader of the general team, the American Ricky Brabec, who commanded the operations. In general, it was the Honda riders who dictated the pace even once they returned to the special, with the Frenchman Adrien van Beveren who seemed to be the main suspect for the victory, favored by the starting position acquired with the complicated stage experienced yesterday.

But this is where the suspicion arises that perhaps there are those who, in the end, may have preferred to look more at tomorrow's starting position than today's glory, because in the end it was Kevin Benavides who won, the second center in this edition. It's true that the KTM rider was among the fastest throughout the day, but in the last 10 km he managed to gain just under three minutes from van Beveren, who finished third at the finish line, 1'27″ behind Argentinian, also behind the other Benavides, the world champion Luciano, second at 31″ with the Husqvarna.

Also favored by the 3'18″ bonuses gained by opening the track after yesterday's stage success, Nacho Cornejo moved into fourth position in the stage, thus moving closer to the top of the general classification. The leader Brabec, in fact, in the end he placed only seventh, himself losing a lot of ground in the last ten kilometres, given that he was third at the control of km 448. The American finished at 4'08″, also behind Toby Price's KTM and the Sherco of Rui Goncalves, but he put his direct pursuer in the general classification, Ross Branch, behind him.

The Hero driver controlled the situation very well today too, always remaining very close to his rival and finishing the special 4'49″ behind the winner. It's true that in the overall he saw his gap increase over Brabec, but 42″ is really nothing when there are still four stages to tackle. And the first two, as mentioned, must not make the mistake of underestimating Cornejo, who has already hit the mark three times in the stages in this edition and has recovered to 4'21″ in third position.

Van Beveren, on the other hand, consolidated his fourth position at 11'58″, but it is clear that it will not be easy for Branch to win, because the HRC squadron will also be able to count on the possibility of working on strategy, given that the Japanese giant can now count on well three strikers to line up against the sole bearer of the Indian brand, who instead lost all his teammates along the way.

Today's success has also brought Kevin Benavides closer together: 20'31″ is not a “terminal” gap, but the winner of the last edition of the Dakar has so far never given the feeling of really inserting himself into the contest for the final success. Continuing to scroll through the general list, then we find Price's other KTM at 29'10″, Daniel Sanders' GasGas at 38'43″ and Luciano Benavides' Husqvarna who completes an all-in top 8 in 39'35″. A gap that once again certifies how close the battle is this year.

Dakar 2024 | General Moto ranking after Stage 8