Sanders rides into Dakar history
Daniel Sanders has completed a near perfect ride to 2025 Dakar Rally victory, etching himself into the history books alongside Toby Price.
Sanders has won the iconic Dakar Rally on his fifth attempt, leading Tosha Schareina by 8m50s after an arduous journey through the Saudi Arabian sand that almost stretched 8,000km.
In the shorter 131km finale, sixth place was enough for Sanders, being only 10s away from Schareina, while Michael Docherty was fastest, being 1m07s ahead of the Aussie.
“Chucky” is the second Australian to win Dakar after Price was victorious in 2016 and 2019.
But the famous and dominant win that included five stage wins is just the start of his success story.
He fist arrived at Dakar in 2021 where he achieved his previous best of fourth on his first attempt, while he completed the 2023 edition despite being poisoned by a thorn stuck in his arm.
Then in May that year he underwent surgery for a broken femur that put his career in doubt when preparing for the Finke Desert Race.
But he put all of his adversity behind him in 2025 as a KTM factory rider to dominate the toughest and most famous rally on earth.
Having bolted out of the gates in the Prologue before winning the first two stages, he led the entire rally and was never seriously challenged as he rode to history.
Sanders admitted it was hard to not get emotional as he reached the finish.
“When I came out of the dunes I could see the bivouac and I just got instant chills through my whole body, I was super nervous,” he recalled.
“I couldn’t believe it. All the emotions started coming through and I could see the finishing line.
“It’s the biggest race in the world motorbikes and off-roading.
“To win the six-day international enduro and now the Dakar, it’s just ticked off all the goals for my career and everything I’ve wanted to achieve. It’s a massive accomplishment.
“For the team, my family, friends, my girlfriend and everyone who’s seen me undergo all the lows and highs along the way, it’s finally all paid off.
“They knew I could do it, everyone who’s backed me along the way, even after the last three years of a lot of lows, really, now we’ve got the up, so all the hard work has paid off.”
To complete the celebrations, Toby Hederics, finished 19th as the only other Australian finisher.
Andrew Houlian and Price also took part, but withdrew.
Broadcast of the famous win can be found on SBS.
Image: Flavien Duhamel / Red Bull Content Pool
Dakar Rally bikes results
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