Five things we learned from stage five of Dakar 2023

Stage five was wild from start to finish. There was no clear cut leader throughout the entire 373 km across most of the classes and many were decided right at the end. The levels of intensity in Dakar 2023 have gone up a few notches, as we look at what we took away from this stage.

Toby Price cutting the sand dunes of Ha'il during stage five.

1. Price finally makes his move, but it was a wild one

Yesterday, we questioned when Toby would plot his attack to challenge for overall lead. He must’ve taken a look at what we wrote, because he answered our queries fast in stage five. He hit the front of the stage early, having started fourth on the road and he was carving through the stage with consummate ease, catching Daniel ‘Chucky’ Sanders quite quickly on the overall standings. He even led the general classification at one point, such was his pace.

But he was quickly undone by two things. Firstly, he and three other riders got lost on the route just 20km away from the 234 km refuelling, losing five minutes. He made up most of the time lost and was catching Mason Klein at a rapid rate, when he was taken out by Joan Barreda Bort, who crashed just 20 km from the stage finish.

Price copped a knock to his shoulder but was fine, then tended to Barreda to make sure the Spanish rider was OK before he resumed competition. Price was eventually credited third on the stage and now sits second overall, 2’07” behind Skyler Howes. We await to see what he does on stage six.

2. ‘The worst day of my life’ - Chucky’s day of survival

When we saw Daniel Sanders fall down the order on both the stage and general classification, we thought he may have peaked too early with his challenge for outright glory.

Turns out, this was not the case. What wasn’t made known at the time until after this stage was that he suffered severe food poisoning hours after finishing the fourth stage. There were fears he wouldn’t be able to compete, due to being up for most of the night. But he turned up for the stage, frail but fortunate he was just well enough to take part.

It was very much a case of getting through the fifth stage for Daniel 'Chucky' Sanders. Credit: Bastien_Roux_Photographie

It was very much a case of surviving the stage. He could only muster 21st and he lost a huge chunk of time to drop to eighth overall, now 17’50” behind Howes. Fingers crossed he will be feeling better come stage six tomorrow.

3. Al-Attiyah furious with rage over Audi’s mid-race power boost

Just before the start of the stage, the FIA and the race promoters announced that they would increase the power output of Audi’s RS Q e-tron E2 by 8kW, which enraged the current outright leader of the T1 Prototypes, Nasser Al-Attiyah.

With already a war of words between himself and Audi’s Carlos Sainz Snr, which has been simmering for many years, the Qatari driver for Toyota Gazoo Racing lashed out at the power increase by saying they were ‘killing the race early’. Whether this change to the regulations mid-race was a knee-jerk reaction remains to be seen.

Whatever the reason, Al-Attiyah was furious with race and he channelled that rage into one of the best drives of the rally so far, answering the challenge by Audi, who had Sainz and Peterhansel throw everything at him. In the end, Al-Attiyah took the stage win by 1’57” over Sainz and 3’44” over Peterhansel. The stage win also consolidated his lead in the general classification by over 22 minutes to Peterhansel. This battle between Toyota and Audi is starting to intensify.

Toyota's Nasser Al-Attiyah and his French co-driver Mathieu Baumel compete during the Stage 5 of the Dakar 2023 around Ha'il, Saudi Arabia, on January 5, 2023. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images) Source: AFP / FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images

4. Camaraderie of Dakar goes to another level on this stage

We were in awe of the efforts by two of the truck teams who helped rescue the Red Bull Can-Am Factory Team pair of Francisco Lopez Contardo and Cristina Gutierrez Herrero, during the deluge that hit during stage three.

So we were watching the good sportsmanship go up to the next level, with two crashes that caught our eye. The first one was Joan Barreda Bort, who was battling for the stage win along with Toby Price, Mason Klein and Skyler Howes. Barreda was within sight of the stage finish when he barrel rolled just 20km out, unintentionally taking out Price in the process. Price quickly got up and checked himself over, before rushing to Barreda and making sure he was fine. These scenes were reminiscent of 2020, when the Australian tended to the aid of Paulo Goncalves during the seventh stage, who sadly lost his life soon after.

Price wasn’t the only one who rushed to the aid of a fellow rider. South Africa’s Kristen Landman was partway through the fourth stage yesterday when she came to the aid of Saudi Arabia’s Mishal Algheneim, who broke his ankle after his bike bottomed out whilst going through a dune bowl. When Landman resumed racing and eventually finished the stage, described it as the most emotional stage she’s ever done.

5. Goczal smashing goals on debut in T4 class

Eryk Goczal and Oriol Mena are currently second outright in the T4 class. Photo: ASO/F. Godden

At only 18 years of age, Eryk Goczal from Poland has already created some waves in this year’s race. Not only is he making his debut appearance, but he’s taking on the highly competitive T4 Modified Production SSV class that includes Australian, Molly Taylor.

Eryk surprised many people with his quick pace and adaptation to the conditions and it handsomely paid off in the very first stage when he was awarded the win following Rokas Baciuska being penalised 15 minutes post stage. Since then, he has added a second stage win on stage four and has finished no worse than eighth. He now sits second in the T4 general classification, 16’45” behind current leader Rodrigo Luppi de Olivera.

Catch the stage five highlights tonight from 5pm AEDT on SBS and anytime on SBS On Demand.