Sanders storms ahead, Price gains ground

Daniel Sanders continues to take the 2025 Dakar Rally by storm, surviving the mammoth two-day Chrono stage and taking a hat-trick of wins.
Sanders carried on his perfect start to the 47th Dakar Rally by winning the 992km, 11 hour Stage 2.
Having entered the epic journey with 2m4s up his sleeve, he pushed that to an imposing 12m36s.
The KTM rider perfectly navigated his way through the challenges of the two-day journey to lead the way after 11h12m13s on the seat.
He comfortably claimed the stage by 7m37s over American Skyler Howes, who narrowly edged out Honda teammate Tosha Schareina.
Adrien van Beveren actually set the second fastest time, but received a two minute penalty which dropped him to fourth.

Daniel Sanders is on fire in Dakar. Image Marcelo Maragni / Red Bull Content Pool
Sanders’ nearest rival in the fight for the overall lead, Ross Branch, could only manage fifth, which allowed the Australian to pull away 10 minutes.
Despite fighting the bike on the dunes, Sanders promisingly said he “does not feel tired at all.”
“It wasn’t too bad, pretty hard in the soft dunes, it was very tough for a lot of us,” Sanders said.
“When opening, you didn’t know if it was going to be a soft dune or a hard dune. It was pretty tough. The dust kind of ruined it a lot.
“It would have been cool to have a bit of a wetter area, compared to last year in the dunes where it was pretty even.
“But everyone was bunched up fighting in the dust for the opening bonuses.
“It was a bit tough on that side, but overall the body feels good and I don’t feel tired at all, I just saved a lot of energy ready for next week…
“The rest of the guys will be starting back and I’ll have to open the next stage, so it’s just how it’s worked these first few days.
“It was good to get the stage win, but it was on me to decide whether I wanted today or not, but I’m committed and ready to take on the challenge tomorrow.”
Fellow Aussie Toby Hederics stayed safe to round out the top 30, while Andrew Houlihan had a tough time and was hit with a 17 hour penalty.

Toby Price made big ground during stage 2 of Rally Dakar. Image: Flavien Duhamel / Red Bull Content Pool
It was also a great stage for Australia’s four-wheel hope, Toby Price.
Price is participating his first Dakar Rally in a car and not a bike, but this challenge is not stopping him from performing once again.
Having entered the epic 48-hour stage 12th, Price shot up to fourth having survived a wild journey.
The Australian now sits just 11m44s away from leader Henk Lategan.
Yazeed Al-Rajhi initially topped the stage despite a two-minute speed violation, but Rokas Baciuska inherited the victory.
Baciuska was sixth for the stage, but was given back around 12 minutes after an issue during refuelling.
Despite Ford initially being hopeful of carrying on, reigning champion Carlos Sainz is an early victim of the event.
Sainz suffered a roll over on the opening part of the two-day stage and carried on to the stop over.
However, FIA conducted checks on his car later in the evening and decided he could not continue due to a damaged roll cage.
A technical 327km stage from Bisha to Al Henakiyah awaits today.
Image: Marcelo Maragni / Red Bull Content Pool
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