Opening the longest special (409 km) of the Desafío Ruta 40 YPF in San Rafael? "An opportunity for Daniels Sanders' rivals to haul themselves back into contention… or for him to pull another ace out of his sleeve", as we summed it up yesterday. B turned out to be the right answer. 

Daniel Sanders: It was freezing this morning with the temperature at negative 1 degrees. I have never rode dunes with ice on them, but it made for good riding because they were hard. The dunes and terrain had lots of grass which made it difficult ride and open the road book at the same time. It was kept interesting by dodging horses and cows.

Sanders gave a masterclass in navigation on the Argentinian tracks and hoovered up all the bonuses on offer for the first rider on the road to bag stage 3 by 58 seconds over his teammate Luciano Benavides and the Honda factory rider Tosha Schareina (+2′37″). Red Bull KTM Factory Racing continue to hog the stage wins in this edition.

Tosha Schareina: I can’t describe this stage, super fast and so cold. I’ve never been in white dunes that were frozen. For me it was good, I did my best and I gave everything on the piste. Today was really really fast, at the beginning riding the famous dunes at high altitude, felt like we didn’t have any power. It was fun, after that we did 300 km flat out on big pistes. The crowd is always there, so that’s happy to see.

As for Sanders himself, he now sits atop a formidable lead of 13′38″ over Schareina and 15′58″ over Benavides, who bumped Ricky Brabec (+19′14″) from the podium.

Ricky Brabec: I woke up feeling like dog crap today. Stage three was a long one, it was super cold today. It was good, it was fast, made a little mistake in the dunes and deployed my airbag, other than that it was good. Just two more days, just going to keep plugging away and do my best.

Skyler Howes: Today just about had everything. We started out on some really fast tracks, then got into these really awesome dunes which were actually frozen in some areas, so it was a bit tricky. Some of these off-piste sections were through the vegetation, which was really physically demanding and then after that we got into really fast tracks and it was freezing cold, so we were shivering while riding the bike and climbed up to 3,000 metres. Everything they could throw at us they did today and it was really fun. I had a good stage, had one crash out there but it was all good and then made a little navigation mistake, but kind of everyone did. All in all it was a really great stage and I’m happy. I was having a lot of fun today and today is one of those days that you really have fun on a dirt bike, it makes me really love the job that I have.

As usual, Monster Energy Honda HRC got a consolation prize in Rally2, this time thanks to Martim Ventura, although Toni Mulec (+55″) came tantalisingly close to netting BAS World KTM the win. Ventura has jockeyed back into the overall lead, with his teammates Bruno Crivilin (+2′14″) and Preston Campbell (+7′48″) also on the provisional podium. 

After claiming victory in the Rally 2 prologue, Martim Ventura returned to the top step on stage three today to reclaim the overall lead at the Desafío Ruta 40.

The Monster Energy Honda HRC Rally 2 riders have dominated the event so far, with Ventura setting the pace in the prologue before Bruno Crivilin and Preston Campbell each secured their maiden World Rally-Raid Cup stage victories earlier in the week.

At the halfway point of the rally, stage three presented riders with a long and punishing challenge. The demanding 408 km special featured dry riverbeds, towering dunes and rugged mountain tracks, testing competitors both mentally and physically, while freezing temperatures added another layer of difficulty.

Ventura spent much of the day locked in a fierce battle for the stage win with Toni Mulec, his rival in the World Rally-Raid Cup standings. Despite struggling at times in the Nihuil dunes, the Portuguese rider stayed composed and delivered a strong finish to claim victory by nearly a minute. In doing so, he also took back the overall rally lead from Campbell with just two stages remaining.

Bruno Crivilin once again showed impressive pace, remaining inside the top three throughout the stage. The Brazilian excelled on the fast tracks and flowing terrain and although he couldn’t quite challenge Ventura for the win, he crossed the line just under two minutes behind in third place. Crivilin now sits second overall, just 2’14” adrift of his teammate.

Following his breakthrough stage win yesterday, Preston Campbell remained in the top four for most of the day before a tablet malfunction cost him valuable time. The American lost around ten minutes due to the issue and now drops to third overall, 7’48” behind Ventura, with Mulec closing in rapidly just 50 seconds behind him.

Stage four promises another brutal challenge as riders climb to elevations of more than 3,000 metres above sea level while traversing the winding Mendoza mountains on the route back to San Juan. With a total distance of 634 km awaiting competitors, the penultimate stage is expected to push both riders and machines to their limits before they return to the bivouac.

Martim Ventura: It was a big stage with different terrain. The dunes in the morning were super hard for me, I didn’t quite get my feeling for them. In the hard pack I got into a rhythm, however, I made some mistakes and wanted to get some time back there. I was quite calm and quick to recover from them, but they took some time. I have to be happy. I want more, it’s on the technical days that we need to be very technical, it’s not like Morocco or Saudi Arabia where you can be more open.

Preston Campbell: It started off in the dunes, it was going OK, but I had some tablet problems halfway, but then got those figured out at the neutralisation. The dunes are more grey-brown, kind of a different colour sand and I was having some fun this morning. I made it to the finish today, nothing too special, but just two more days to go.

You can follow the race live right here: YPF Ruta 40 Challenge

Rally GP Result - Stage 3

1 Sanders Daniel 1 AUS Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team 4:16:30

2 Benavides Luciano 77 ARG Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team +0:57

3 Schareina Tosha 68 SPA Monster Energy Honda HRC +2:35

4 Howes Skyler 10 USA Monster Energy Honda HRC +5:45

5 Brabec Ricky 9 USA Monster Energy Honda HRC +6:37

Rider Standings

1 Sanders Daniel 1 AUS Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team 9:37:06

2 Schareina Tosha 68 SPA Monster Energy Honda HRC +13:36

3 Benavides Luciano 77 ARG Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team +15:57

4 Brabec Ricky 9 USA Monster Energy Honda HRC +19:12

5 Howes Skyler 10 USA Monster Energy Honda HRC +21:29