Dakar Rally 2020: 11th stage

Image: Stéphane Peterhansel on the 11th stage of the 2020 Dakar Rally (Source: ASO/Florent Gooden)

On the 11th stage, the participants drive 744 km from Shubaytah to Haradh. A sea of dunes awaits the riders on this route, which impresses and challenges. This is the Arabia you first think of when you hear its name. The chances of still catching the leaders are becoming more and more difficult, even if some are successfully taking time from them.

For the bikers, the situation is slowly becoming clear. Honda is clearly ahead of KTM and also the only Husquara rider Pablo Quintanilla, who is in second place, has to come up with something if he wants to win the Dakar and indeed the Chilean once again gets everything out of his machine, shows a fantastic ride and deservedly takes the stage win, making up about 12 minutes on the leader Ricky Brabec and reducing the gap to about 14 minutes.

"I am really happy with today's stage. Winning a stage on the Dakar is always something special, a special feeling, I was able to catch up on Ricky a bit, but he still has a clear lead, it will be difficult to catch him unless something goes wrong with him."

the Chilean answered the questions in the interview after the race.

Joan Barreda, who has been in third place so far, has no luck today; Ricky Brabec's team-mate loses a lot of time. Thanks to a 15-minute penalty, he finishes the stage in 22nd place, dropping to 7th overall. On the way through the endless desert, Ricky Brabec soon catches up with his teammate with Kevin Benafides in tow and soon after the two KTM riders Luciano Benafides and Toby Price hang on to the trio. With almost 12 minutes behind, Dakar leader Ricky Brabec finishes the stage in 10th place.

"Yeah, I was riding something like 70%, I wanted to take it easy on the bike, tomorrow could really be a big day for us, I'm crossing my fingers and trying to have good vibes",

said Ricky Brabec during the interview in the finish area after the race.

The KTM riders deliver solid today, Matthias Walkner in second place, Luciano Benafides in third and last year's winner Toby Price finishes the race in fifth place. Toby Price is thus back on the podium in the overall classification, but he has no illusions, ober this year the victory for the third time.

"Yes, it was a good stage today, and at the moment Honda just needs to protect its lead, they did a good job, the guys are riding fast and smart and really strong, it's going to be really difficult to try to close that gap."

reflected last year's winner Toby Price at the end of the stage.

In the car category, too, the matter is almost settled. One of the trio of veterans who began to pull away early on will decide the Dakar in their favor. If Nasser Al-Attiyah or Stéphane Peterhansel want to catch the Spaniard Carlos Sainz before the finish, they will have to take the decisive minutes from him today and tomorrow. The huge dunes pose a constant danger that must not be ignored. Carlos Sainz continues to drive steadily and strongly as usual on the 11th stage, but today he loses an important 8 minutes to stage winner Stéphane Peterhansel. This leaves him with an advantage reserve of about 10 minutes. The recent rain makes the drive over the huge dunes more difficult than Nasser Al-Attiyah is used to. He has to struggle a lot with it in an environment in which he is usually the champion. Despite the difficulties, he loses only 10 seconds to stage winner Peterhansel.

"We made a mistake yesterday and it cost us a lot of time (17:46 min.), well okay, now we try not to be second, we fight and we have another day and we will see tomorrow",

Nasser Al-Attiyah answered the questions in the post-race interview.

The 13-time Dakar champion Stéphane Peterhansel already takes his 80th Dakar stage victory in today's race, today 10 seconds ahead of Nasser Al-Attiyah, but with his Buggy har in the fight with the huge dunes thanks to his experience a certain advantage at least in today's penultimate stage.

"It is so difficult to gain minutes on the clean track, but as soon as it becomes treacherous and difficult, the gaps appear. Today's stage was very long and we gained a few minutes, but not enough",

Peterhansel said critically and honestly after his race.