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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

The first half of the 2026 Dakar Rally is complete as competitors head into a much deserved rest day tomorrow. After a brutal 900km and fourteen hours, the top racers in the Dakar Rally have finished the first half of this year's race.

Up front, it's American Ricky Brabec on his Monster Energy Honda HRC Rally machine taking the top spot on the day by just over a minute to his teammate Tosha Schareina. Third on the day went to Red Bull KTM Factory Racing's Daniel Sanders, three seconds behind Schareina. The big story today is Sanders, who went to the front of the field early after catching his teammate Luciano Benevides. Sanders threw down a blistering pace at the front, riding away from the field and was clearly the fastest on-course. However, he was slapped with a six-minute speeding penalty after reportedly flying through a 50km/h zone at 98km/h.

The mistake took the sure stage win away from Sanders and closed the gap at the top of the general standings. Here, Sanders has the lead by a mere 45 seconds over Brabec with Benavides in third, more than ten minutes behind.

The rest day is welcomed for the bivouac, and we catch up with Mason Klein as he finishes another day in the top-ten rankings on-stage, and sits 13th overall.

Rest day tomorrow, and then we're straight in to a brutal second half of the 2026 Dakar Rally!

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.

The 2026 Dakar Rally has finished its first of two two-day marathon stages today and racers across the field had to deal with racing on worn tires from yesterday. We predicted that tire issues would cause a shakeup in the overall standings and it sure did with early front runner Edgar Canet of the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team suffering the worst of it, losing his rear mousse on the stage and having to limp his bike to the finish in Hail. Canet would be the last finisher on the day, losing more than four hours on race time, and more than 10 after penalties were assessed at the end of the day. His race at the front is over, but he does race tomorrow and will continue to be a factor in the stages if he stays healthy. American Skyler Howes predicted he'd have tire issues today and he did, having to take it easy on the day and sacrificing more than 20 minutes to get to the finish.

Another victim of the day, albeit not because of tires, was the previous two days' winner Tosha Schareina, the Monster Energy Honda HRC Rally pilot lost ten minutes today almost immediately as he failed to enter the course between the required flag markers. His error cost him ten minutes on the day, and dropped him from sharing the lead to fourth place overall, almost 12 minutes behind the leader.

Today's stage was great for Luciano Benevides, the factory KTM racer made strategic choices to push at the end of the day to leap ahead in the standings and take his first stage win of the year. He now sits in third overall, as well. This was after a very high-speed crash, to boot. Likewise, Nacho Cornejo from the Hero squad rode a great stage, taking second overall for Hero, a result they desperately needed after Ross Branch dropped back in the standings today.

Daniel Sanders came in third today, giving away almost six minutes to his teammate.

In the general ranking, it's Sanders in control with a two minute gap to Ricky Brabec (fifth today), and then Benevides nearly six minutes behind Sanders in third.

Tomorrow's stage is massive, over 900 kilometers on tap and a 4am start time for Benevides in the morning. The only repreive is the following day is Rest Day in Riyahd.

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.

The racing is tighter than ever at the 2026 Dakar Rally and today's stage four, the first half or a two-stage marathon phase of the race, was close with the top three finishers on the day separated by a mere 10 seconds!

Lot's to unpack today and we have Johnny Campbell joining the show to give us some deep insight into the race! In the front of the pack today was once again Tosha Schareina of the Monster Energy Honda HRC Rally team - taking his second stage win in a row for 2026. The spaniard led the route from the start and claimed most of the opening bonus time before his teammate, American Ricky Brabec, caught him. The two Honda pilots would ride in to the finish together, navigating quickly and sharing bonus time and setting themselves up with 1-2 on the day.

Third on the day was yet another Honda rider, as American Skyler Howes got way up to speed, clocking fast times across the stage to sit only 10-seconds back on adjusted time after bonuses awarded to the top-two. Howes was on the gas.

In Rally2, a lot of drama unfolded today with front-runner Michael Docherty having a massive front wheel failure, forcing him to catch a ride to the end of the stage and essentially stopping his race. He will be able to continue in Rally2, but he's out of the competition. Honda's rookie Rally2 sensation Martim Ventura also had a mechanical today, knocking him down nearly two hours. Kove's Neels Theric's rebound from his prologue pushing continues as he takes the stage win for the Chinese brand, but American rookie Preston Campbell is the big benefactor on the day, flying up the general rankings to take the lead, more than 18 minutes clear.

The following days are going to be filled with more drama and racing excitement. And we can't wait to cover it all here.

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.

The 2026 Dakar Rally set off on stage three today with a grueling, rocky route through the Saudi desert. And for the first time in 2026 we have a new manufacture taking the stage win as Monster Energy Honda HRC Rally's Tosha Schareina kept his speed high, despite a brutal crash, and recorded his first win of 2026. Second behind him was his teammate, American Ricky Brabec. Brabec blitzed to the front of the field today to grab some opening bonus time and the effort gave him his best finish of the race, so far.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing's Daniel Sanders followed up his stage win from yesterday with a strong performance leading the field. He raced through the course fast while leading, gathering the most opening bonus points without losing much time to the following pack. His great ride today kept him in second on the stage and keeps him in the lead overall.

In the general rankings, Sanders leads by a little over a minute to Ricky Brabec, with Schareina now in third, knocking rookie RallyGP star Edgar Canet off the podium for now. We have some great interviews today including exclusive chats with Ross Branch, Michael Docherty, Hank from HT Rally Raid and Preston Campbell on the Honda HRC squad's Rally2 program.

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.

Welcome back to the KLIM Dakar Rally Daily show presented by Baja Rally and Rally Navigator! We're racing into stage two today with some insight into a fast and grueling stage at the 2026 Dakar Rally. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing's Daniel Sanders took the stage win today just in front of his teammate and 2026's stand out RallyGP rookie Edgar Canet. The KTM Duo swapped positions at the front of the rally about 100km in to the stage and enjoyed a fast pace at the front. Sanders and Canet split the available bonus time and kept the pace high to secure the top two spots on the day. Sanders, with his 10th Dakar stage win today, jumped to the front of the overall rankings with Canet right behind him in second overall.

American Ricky Brabec had a great day as well. The Monster Energy Honda HRC pilot went fastest on the stage from start to finish on race time, but ended up third again today after the opening bonuses for Sanders and Canet were tallied. Brabec sticks to his third spot overall, as well. The bivouac moved locations today making uploads from racers and our on-the-ground correspondents difficult, but we still managed to get you some great insight into the racers and how the stage went down.

Enjoy the show and don't forget to check out our sponsors and partners!

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.