The 2026 Rally-Raid Portugal roared into life beginning with a brief but decisive prologue for the riders. Covering just 3.4 kilometres against the clock, the stint at Grândola would still play an important role deciding which riders would earn the advantage of choosing their starting positions for stage one.

Daniel Sanders: Portugal Rally Prologue winner today the prologue was a short and intense 5km mix of hard pack and sand terrain. I was able to take the win and chose my starting place of 3rd tomorrow. There are 5 stages in this rally!

Setting off shortly after lunchtime at two-minute intervals, the 2024 Rally-Raid Portugal winner Tosha Schareina made light work of the sandy terrain, finishing just a second behind the fastest time of 3’01” set by prologue winner Daniel Sanders.

Tosha Schareina: The prologue was pretty intense, just 3km on the sand. I pushed a lot to secure second place and finish with just a one second gap off the win. I know that the race starts tomorrow so I will have to be focused. The conditions are perfect for now, but we are waiting for the rain, so we will have to see. We are prepared for the battle.

Ricky Brabec, returning to his Honda CRF450 RALLY for the first time since the Dakar Rally in January, navigated the slippery conditions, finishing just two seconds behind his teammate.

Ricky Brabec: It was good, somewhat fast, really slick in areas, slicker than I was predicting especially with the conditions and the weather out here, I was thinking it to be a little more wet. Overall, it was cool. Not a lot of people might know this but I haven’t really ridden a motorcycle since Dakar, so to go the speed and to push like we did today, it felt cool, but the race is not determined by the prologue so I’m looking forward to the next five days. The wind is coming, the clouds are coming, let’s hope the weather is nice to us. First off, the roads here are a little bit scary, now with the rain and the clouds coming in, it’s going to be muddy and scary, so it’s going to be unpredictable this week. Let’s just try to stay on two wheels and put the skis out when we need to and make it to the finish line.

Adrien Van Beveren described the prologue as “intense,” and a couple of sideways moments left him five seconds off the top time. Skyler Howes completed the team’s effort in eighth place, 12 seconds back, with a few cornering mistakes costing him a higher position.

Andrien Van Beveren: With the opening kilometres complete, focus now shifts to the first full day of competition: 180 km of timed action and a 46 km transfer across the rolling plains of Alentejo. Riders will face demanding sandy terrain alongside unpredictable local weather, before regrouping near the Grândola bivouac for a final twist – a short but decisive 3 km sandy special stage to close out the day.