Fresh of his prologue victory, there was a lot of expectation on Daniel Sanders as he powered off on his GasGas bike for the 333 kilometre journey from Ha'il. The Australian saw Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) come close to matching him, but was able to move clear on the final section to the finish to extend his lead at the top of the standings.
Sanders now holds a 3 minute and 7 second lead at the top of the overall standings heading into tomorrow's stage from Ha'il to Al Artawiya, with Quintanilla in second and 2018 Dakar winner Matthias Walkner (KTM) in third after jumping two places.
An understandably ecstatic Sanders was enthusiastic as he wrapped his second win in as many days.
“First Dakar stage win," wrote Sanders on social media. "Super pumped with the day. A really wet sandy stage that challenged our navigation skills. I didn’t make any big mistakes and got the win!! Tomorrow is going to the biggest challenge leading the race out on fresh tracks."
Fellow Aussie, two-time champion Topy Price (KTM) endured a less-than-ideal day as he finished 47 minutes and 17 seconds behind Sanders in 22nd place. The Australian former winner posted on social media after the race that he had gotten lost for about 45 minutes, nearly the entirety of his time loss on the day.
"Today was a bit of a rough one," wrote Price on Instagram, "(I) had a note in my navigation that didn’t add up so I ended up getting lost for about 45 mins, not the best way to start the Rally… but it’s only early days. Keep the head down and keep at it!"
Recently crowned Extreme-E champion Molly Taylor was another who suffered a navigational issue, compounded with a technical problem that saw the Australian dip to just over an hour behind the race leader Sebastian Eriksson.
Taylor spoke of her happiness at being iniated into Dakar, even if it was a rough start for the former Australian Rally champion.
"A few unplanned detours and a technical gremlin cost us a lot of time but we weren’t the only ones searching for a waypoint in the dunes," said Taylor. "Dakar is a long game and there’s plenty of opportunity to find lost time over the coming days."
