Luciano Benevides put the 2026 Dakar Rally motorcycle competitors on notice today that he is here to stay. Yesterday's stage winner went out like a bullet today, opening the longest special stage of the 2026 course solo, grabbing every available second of bonus time and taking back-to-back stage wins and his third stage win of the year in four days. An absolutely dominating performance from Benevides today saw him not only best Daniel Sanders by nearly five minutes, he also held off a strategic Ricky Brabec by more than five minutes. If that wasn't enough, Benevides also put himself at the front of the overall rankings, leapfrogging over his teammate Sanders to sit at the top with a ten second gap to Sanders. Brabec is third, 4:47 back after the day didn't work out like he'd hoped.d

Stage eight was fast, faster than most racers predicted, and without much in challenging navigation points. And Luciano Benevides was the fastest.

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Dakar Rally Daily is produced and edited by Jesse Ziegler, and hosted by Quinn Cody and Jesse Ziegler.

The 2026 Dakar Rally is back after a much needed rest day and Luciano Benevides came out swinging! The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing pilot took his seventh in his career today, almost five minutes ahead of his teammate Edgar Canet.

Canet, rebounding nicely from his rear tire disaster before the rest day kept the pace high, finishing just ahead of Monster Energy Honda HRC's Adrian Van Beveren by only 10 seconds on the day. In the general classification, the race order now stands with Daniel Sanders at the front holding a 4:25 lead over Ricky Brabec with Benavides in third more than ten minutes back.

Racers on the course were playing strategy for what seems like the first time in the rally today, holding back for favorable start positions tomorrow and looking ahead in the week to try to gain an advantage.

We catch up with the top finishers, check in with Johnny Campbell to talk strategy and bivouac food, interview the Malle Moto/Original by Motul leader Benji Melo and hear from Anthony Bonello, in person from the pits! Enjoy the show!

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And leave comments on Cycle News YouTube coverage:

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Cycle News official race results coverage:

https://www.cyclenews.com/2026/01/article/2026-dakar-rally-results/

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Dakar Rally Daily is produced and edited by Jesse Ziegler, and hosted by Quinn Cody and Jesse Ziegler.

It's rest day at the 2026 Dakar Rally - the perfect opportunity to annoy some factory racers, check in with the Malle Moto / Original by Motul class racers and get some insight into the professional photographers on the course every day.

We start today's show with a Skyler Howes interview and then move to Javi Vega, finally chatting with photographer Marcin Kin. Howes has had a few really tough days battling illness, crashes and mechanical threats on the course, but he's still in contention for a podium spot by the end of the race. We get his insight into the first week and what he's looking towards starting tomorrow.

Vega has been racing the Original by Motul class for a few years and on a Kove for two years now. We find out about some bike issues and his motivation to get on the class podium.

We all want to know what photographers do when they see a dangerous spot on the course - do they shoot or try to direct riders away from the danger? We ask Marcin Kin, a Red Bull photographer and one of the best in the biz.

Finally, we drop in some good Quinn-and-Answer questions and Jesse tries to get Quinn to talk about more factory rally bike secrets. Enjoy the show!

Buy us a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/dakarrallydaily

Follow and communicate with us via Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dakar\_rally\_daily/

And leave comments on Cycle News YouTube coverage:

https://www.youtube.com/@cyclenews

Cycle News official race results coverage:

https://www.cyclenews.com/2026/01/article/2026-dakar-rally-results/

Buy us a coffee!

https://ko-fi.com/dakarrallydaily

Visit our partners

KLIM

Rally Navigator

The Baja Rally

(more to come!)

Dakar Rally Daily is produced and edited by Jesse Ziegler, and hosted by Quinn Cody and Jesse Ziegler.