Overview
- Edgar Canet secured the first full Dakar 2026 motorcycle stage after Ross Branch was docked six minutes for speeding, extending his early rally lead.
- The Spaniard finished the Yanbu loop a little over a minute ahead of KTM teammate Daniel Sanders and more than a minute and a half clear of Honda’s Ricky Brabec.
- Canet had already won the 22 km prologue by three seconds over Sanders, which counted toward the bike general classification and made him the youngest moto stage winner in Dakar history.
- In cars, Guillaume de Mévius with co-driver Mathieu Baumel won the stage for X-Raid MINI, with Nasser Al Attiyah’s Dacia 40 seconds back and Martin Prokop third in a private Ford Raptor.
- Several frontrunners, including Mattias Ekström and Carlos Sainz, moderated pace to avoid opening the road on Monday, while Stéphane Peterhansel lost nearly two hours after a tire failure.