Despite battling heavy dust throughout the stage, American Ricky Brabec once again led the Honda charge.Benefiting from his 14th starting position, he rode a measured and consistent stage to finish third, just 1’32” behind stage winner Edgar Canet. Sitting exactly where he wants to be at this early point in the rally, Brabec will look to carry this momentum into the coming days while staying firmly in touch with the overall leaders.

It was also a tough day for teammate Skyler Howes.Struggling with limited visibility in the dust early on, the American clipped a rock and suffered a crash.Despite riding on with bent handlebars, Howes showed grit and determination to reach the finish in ninth position.

Preston Campbell also made a positive step forward on his first full Dakar stage. Enjoying the variety of terrain, the American delivered a solid ride to claim seventh place.Although he is ten minutes off the overall lead, Campbell will be aiming to steadily reduce that gap as the rally progresses.

Ricky Brabec: It’s the first official Dakar stage and I’m exactly where I want to be. I don’t want to open this early, but I also don’t want to start at the very back. I’m happy where I’m at, looking forward to stage two and the rest of the rally. Overall, the team is looking good and the mechanics are doing a good job. Tomorrow, I’ll be happy to leave the bivouac and start heading North getting into some cooler weather. I don’t think there was any strategy for me today, for me personally, it was just to make it to the end of the stage with no mistakes and be consistent throughout the day, which I think I managed that fairly well. I’m going into stage two happy, exactly where I want to be and although I not sure when the race will start, we’re pushing hard already, so we’ll see what happens tomorrow.

Skyler Howes: Stage one was a bit of a frustrating day for me, I started in the wrong place and got stuck in the dust in the first part and I couldn’t see, hit a big rock and had a big crash, so I bent the bars pretty bad which made it really hard to push. But, everything’s all good, it was a bit frustrating as it was hard to push my maximum, but I’m glad to be at the finish line of stage one and looking forward to the rest of the first week.

Preston Campbell: The stage was good it, was a good mix of fast and rocky areas. It was a good first stage to finish at my first Dakar. It’s a long two weeks and I’m looking forward to the rest of the race.