In a stunning turn of events, defending champion Daniel Sanders has been swept from the leaders board after a horrible stage today and it is now American, Ricky Brabec who leads the Dakar rally.

Sanders began the 2025 season with a Dakar title and capped it with the world championship. His ultra-dominant performance had raised fears that the Australian and his KTM would steamroll the opposition on the loop starting and ending in Yanbu.

Indeed, the favourite to defend his own title was sticking to a tight plan and got out of bed this morning with more than 6 minutes over Ricky Brabec at the top of the overall. Despite his handling skills, robust physique and proven navigational acumen at high speeds, it all went down the drain when he crashed and hurt his left shoulder 138 km into the special. "Chucky" soldiered on to the finish but lost nearly half an hour.

This is probably curtains for the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing's bid for glory, but the Austrian outfit has other cards to play in the fight for the 2026 title. Luciano Benavides is still in the mix after starting the special in ninth position and coming tantalisingly close to the win.

He would really like to get his hands on the coveted Bedouin trophy in three days. For that to happen, the Argentinian will have to erase a deficit of about 20 seconds and prevail in an unpredictable duel with his Monster Energy Honda HRC opponent Ricky Brabec.

The stage win went to Adrien Van Beveren, who has been on a roller-coaster since the start in Yanbu. This year, he has broken his duck on the road to Bisha, claiming the special on the day that the bivouac pays tribute to Thierry Sabine, who created Paris–Dakar and the Enduro du Touquet, the event where Van Beveren put his name on the map with three victories (2014 through 2016).

The seventh Dakar stage win of his career also propelled the man from northern France one step higher in the hierarchy, where he now stands in sixth place, about an hour from the American leader.

Full results here: Dakar - Live race coverage