After the day of rest, the Dakar 2022 restarted with the seventh stage, which led from Riyadh to Al Dawaidimi, with a route that included 402 km of chrometrata for all the vehicles of the caravan, which rejoined after making separate loops in the fifth and in the sixth stage.
After a brilliant first week, luck seems to have turned its back on GasGas at the start of the second. The first twist of the day came in fact even before the special kicked off: Daniel Sanders he fell disastrously in transfer, and was subsequently evacuated to the hospital. For the Australian, winner of three stages in this edition (including the Prologue), it was the end of the game.
But not only that, because Sam Sunderland went through a complicated stage, having to open the track thanks to the absence of his teammate, so he found himself paying 25’55 “to the winner José Cornejo. In this way the Briton not only did he lose the leadership in the overall, but he even ended up outside the podium area, albeit just 5’38 “behind the new leader Adrien van Beveren in fourth position.
However, this was a stage that completely reopened the race, shortening a ranking that now sees the first seven enclosed in the space of just 8’33 “. As mentioned, Cornejo won in the special, with the Chilean from Honda who won his fourth career milestone at the Dakar, just 44 “ahead of last year’s winner Kevin Benavides.
A performance that allowed the winner of the past edition to make a sensational leap forward, taking his KTM to third position, with a delay of just 5’23 “on van Beveren’s Yamaha, which today took the lead despite not did better than the 10th time at 12’34 “. The Frenchman, however, took advantage not only of the Sunderland debacle, but also of that of Matthias Walkner.
Even the Austrian of KTM did not shine starting second, closing the special with a gap of 22’50 “. Walkner, however, maintained his second position in the overall, being overtaken by 5’12” by the new leader van Beveren.
Joan Barreda is among those who have heavily relaunched their candidacy for final victory today. Just a couple of days ago, the Honda rider had questioned the possibility of continuing due to a left shoulder injury, but today he set an excellent third time at 2’51 “. In this way,” Bang Bang ” he was seventh in the overall, but above all he made up his gap from the top at only 8’33 “.
In general, in addition to the four we have already mentioned, in front of the Spaniard there are also Lorenzo Santolino and Pablo Quintanilla. The Sherco rider is undoubtedly one of the revelations of this Dakar and today with the fifth time he reduced the gap from the top to 6’34 “. Similar speech for the Chilean of Honda, who now pays only 8’15” later the 11th time today.
The others, on the other hand, are more detached, starting from Stefan Svitko, eighth in the overall at 20’18 “. The stage winner Cornejo also returned to the top 10, ninth at 26’37” ahead of Andrea Short’s Yamaha and KTM Toby Price, who remains in 11th position at 29’29 “. Ricky Brabec also recovered some positions, now 13th at 38’52” after a good seventh time.
However, it was not an easy stage for Danilo Petrucci. The former MotoGP rider started again despite the points on the elbow remedied with the fall of the sixth stage and today he made up for a delay of 27’07 “. Speaking of Italians, Paolo Lucci did better than him, 26th of the day at 25 ’06 “. The Solarys Racing rider is 25th overall, just ahead of Arunas Gelazninkas, who commands the Original by Motul in 27th position.
It should also be noted that, after the bad crash on Friday, Ross Branch also resumed his race today, but obviously he can no longer have ambitions in the general classification. However, the Yamaha rider seems to have recovered quite well, because today he finished 12th at 13’04 “.
Quad: stop in Medeiros, Giroud stretches in the general
As for the Quads, despite his 22 hours delay in the general classification, Marcelo Medeiros gave himself a great consolation by taking home this seventh stage. For the Brazilian, fourth in the 2018 edition, this is the second stage affirmation in the Dakar after the one obtained in 2017.
On today’s finish line he preceded Alexandre Giroud by 3’07 “, with the Frenchman who then consolidated his leadership in the general, bringing his margin over Pablo Copetti to 18’21”, with the American who today finished third at 16 ‘ 36 “.
Fourth of stage and third in the general we find the Russian Aleksandr Maksimov, who now pays 52’39 “. To complete the top 5, but more detached, there are Karol Wisniewski and Francisco Moreno.
We must also remember that the winner of the last edition, the Argentine Manuel Andujar, is no longer in the race, forced to retire in the sixth stage after an accident in which fortunately he did not suffer serious physical consequences.
Dakar 2022 – General motorcycle ranking after Stage 7 (Top 10)
Pos | Pilot | Motorcycle | Time / Gap | Penalty |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Adrien van Beveren | Yamaha | 23.45’02 “ | |
2 | Matthias Walkner | KTM | + 5’12 “ | |
3 | Kevin Benavides | KTM | + 5’23 “ | |
4 | Sam Sunderland | GasGas | + 5’38 “ | |
5 | Lorenzo Santolino | Sherco | + 6’34 “ | |
6 | Pablo Quintanilla | Honda | + 8’15 “ | |
7 | Joan Barreda | Honda | + 8’33 “ | + 1’00 “ |
8 | Stefan Svitko | KTM | + 20’18 “ | |
9 | José Cornejo | Honda | + 26’37 “ | |
10 | Andrew Short | Yamaha | + 28’10 “ |
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