The 2025 Dakar Rally resumed after the rest day and Australia’s Daniel Sanders defended his overall bikes lead.
After penalties saw his advantage slashed to just seven minutes, but that figure is now back beyond double digits.
A composed ride to ninth in the 605km stage between Hail and Al Duwadimi has strengthened Sanders’ lead to 11m46s.
Tosha Schareina is still “Chucky’s” nearest rival with Adrien van Beveren third.
Sanders said he spent the day preparing for the following stage.
“I got off to a bit of a rough start, getting a little bit lost at the beginning and just trying to get back into the rhythm after the rest day,” he said.
“But, yeah, it was important not to go too good today because I think tomorrow’s a difficult stage, so I didn’t want to push and get up the front.
“So, hopefully we’re in a good starting position for tomorrow and, yeah, we’ll be back in the rhythm.”
Fellow Aussie Toby Hederics maintained his consistency by finishing 28th, while Andrew Joseph Houlihan battled and suffered an 11 hour penalty to be 97th out of 101 runners.
The stage itself was a hard fought affair with Ricky Brabec beating van Beveren by just 23s, while Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo was also within a minute.
In the cars Guillaume de Mevius led a 1-2 finish, but overall leader Henk Lategan had his lead has been slashed by around three minutes to 7m16s.
