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The first day of the 2021 Dakar Rally offered the drivers a 623 km stage, including 277 km specials.
The stage, which took place entirely on rough sand tracks, immediately challenged the participants with difficult navigation. The rocky nature of the track also made bike maintenance a priority, especially with the new tire rules for 2021, which only allow the best riders to have a maximum of six rear tires during the course of the event.
As ninth fastest in the prologue, Toby Price used the first 75km of the first stage to slowly build up his self-confidence and speed. The two-time Dakar champion took the lead in second place at kilometer 92 and kept pace to the finish. Price leads the general classification by 23 seconds and will open the second stage on Monday.
Toby Price: “Overall, the day went well. Today’s navigation was certainly difficult, it was difficult to find the correct passages and, more annoyingly, I got a bit lost in the last few kilometers to my destination. Apart from a few others. small mistakes but the rest of the stage is fine. I am happy with the way I have seen the bike and the tires because we have to be very careful with the new rules. As for the whole race, I think there is a lot of variation in the general classification – the plan is to try to be consistent and not waste too much time. I will be starting tomorrow so I hope I don’t make too many big mistakes and we can keep that momentum. “
Matthias Walkner showed a solid course as usual in the first stage and finished third. The seasoned Austrian drove consistently fast on the 277km long stage and minimized his errors so that he finally reached the finish line just over 30 seconds behind Price. Along with his prologue time, Walkner is also in third place overall for the moment and will be trying to chase down his KTM 450 RALLY teammate on stage two.
Matthias Walkner: “It was a pretty tough day today. It was only 277 kilometers, but after a long liaison stage in the morning the stage was quite exhausting, especially due to the complicated navigation. There was a really technical section that was more reminiscent of the Erzbergrodeo than The Dakar was a reminder, but the mix of terrain was a good thing and definitely very demanding. I’m happy with my start and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s continuation. “
Fourth behind Walkner, Sam Sunderland had to pass several drivers and fight his way through the dust as he made his way to the finish line. Despite the conditions, the Brit was able to finish in the top four until the middle of the race and from there he maintained a solid pace to the finish.
Sam Sunderland: “Today was a really tough stage with some extremely technical sections, rock on rock, and you had no choice but to turn in first gear. Overall, I’m satisfied with my performance. That I worked my way up to fourth at the finish line.” It is really encouraging. Getting the road books just 20 minutes after departure makes things the same for everyone, but it’s also difficult to assess our overall strategy this early. I’ll be leaving fourth tomorrow, so hopefully I can do a little more. “Make up time.”
KTM Factory Racing Junior Daniel Sanders got off to a very strong start on his Dakar Rally debut, setting the third fastest time in the qualifying prologue. Third on the first stage, the young Australian immediately chased after the two riders in front of him. When the leaders made a mistake before the first checkpoint, Sanders had to open the stage, a very demanding task for the rally rookie. However, he showed a solid run without crashes and ended up setting the 18th fastest time on stage. A seven-minute penalty for driving too fast, unfortunately, returned him to 25th place, both on stage and in the preliminary general ranking before the second day.
Daniel Sanders: “I really enjoyed that, the terrain was amazing with a lot of rocks and some very tricky parts in the road book. It was really cool to start my first stage of the Dakar from the beginning. Some of the best guys made a little mistake at the beginning, but No I dared to trust my instincts and also lost a bit of time. After that, I was able to ride ahead for a while, it was a great feeling. Overall I’m fine, the bike is fine, I’m looking forward to tomorrow.
The second stage of the 2021 Dakar Rally takes participants from Bisha to Wadi Ad-Dawasir. The total length of the stage is 685 km, of which 457 km are special. The terrain is made up of mountainous sand dunes at the beginning of the route, followed by faster stretches to the destination.
Provisional Results Stage One – Dakar Rally 2021
1. Toby Price (AUS), KTM, 3:18:26
2. Kevin Benavides (ARG), Honda, 3:18:57 +0: 31
3.Matthias Walkner (AUT), KTM, 3:18:58 +0: 32
4. Sam Sunderland (GBR), KTM, 3:20:29 +2: 03
5. Lorenzo Santolino (ESP), Sherco, 3:22:49 +4: 23
Other KTM
8. Skyler Howes (USA), KTM, 3:23:51 +5: 25
25. Daniel Sanders (AUS), KTM, 3:38:17 +19: 51
Provisional positions (after stage one) – Dakar Rally 2021
1. Toby Price (AUS), KTM, 3:43:58
2. Kevin Benavides (ARG), Honda, 3:44:21 +0: 23
3.Matthias Walkner (AUT), KTM, 3:45:10 +1: 12
4. Sam Sunderland (GBR), KTM, 3:48:09 +4: 11
5. Lorenzo Santolino (ESP), Sherco, 3:48:57 +4: 59
Other KTM
8. Skyler Howes (USA), KTM, 3:49:43 +5: 45
25. Daniel Sanders (AUS), KTM, 4:03:13 +19: 15
