Tosha Schareina claimed back-to-back stage victories to strengthen his status as one of the favourites at this year’s Dakar Rally, moving into the overall lead as the standings were shaken up. Ricky Brabec and Skyler Howes completed a Honda one-two-three, capping off a superb day for Monster Energy Honda HRC on the opening leg of the marathon stage.
Stage four from AlUla was always expected to be high risk, with riders needing to carefully manage the ever-changing terrain of rocky plateaus, sandy canyons and stone slabs, while also protecting their bikes. Under marathon conditions, once riders reached the bivouac there would be no outside assistance for repairs, making mechanical sympathy crucial.
Schareina faced the demanding task of opening the stage aboard his Honda CRF450 RALLY, but it’s a role he’s familiar with from his experience in the World Rally-Raid Championship and one he seems to relish. Once again, he delivered, charging through every time check at the front, collecting bonus time as the lead rider and securing the stage win by just six seconds over Brabec. It marked his second stage victory of this year’s rally and he’ll be looking to add to his tally in the days ahead.
Brabec was also in excellent form and following his duel with Schareina yesterday, the pair were locked in another intense battle across the 417 km special. Catching his teammate around the 200 km mark, the Californian also benefited from bonus time for his second-place finish. After 16 hours, 45 minutes and 40 seconds of racing, the two riders are unbelievably locked together on time at the very front.
Despite feeling under the weather, Skyler Howes continued to build momentum and showed why he remains a serious contender. Finishing third, just ten seconds behind his Monster Energy Honda HRC teammates, his relentless preparation clearly paid off. Although currently seventh overall, Howes has closed the gap to the riders fighting for the final podium positions. However, concerns over tyre wear at the marathon camp mean he’ll be hoping his rubber holds up over tomorrow’s punishing, stony stage to Hail.
Adrien Van Beveren, meanwhile, began the task of recovering time after a crash and navigation issues disrupted his earlier stages. Finishing ninth, just over five minutes behind Schareina, the Frenchman now sits 27 minutes and 24 seconds off the overall lead and will be targeting stronger results in the days ahead.
With a night under the stars and an evening around the campfire, the riders will aim for some much-needed rest before tackling the second part of the marathon stage, where they will eventually rejoin the rest of Monster Energy Honda HRC at the Hail bivouac.
Ruben Faria – General Manager:
“The results were really good on a difficult stage. With Tosha opening all day and still winning was not what we expected as it was such a long, difficult stage. He told me that he rode smoothly and didn’t take any risks. Ricky did a really good stage too, he caught up to Tosha at 200 km and rode with him for the rest of the day. Skyler was in a good position today to attack and finished in third. Adrien tried to find some extra pace after his crash. Let’s see how the stage pans out tomorrow, this marathon has been really tough so far. I hope the riders arrive to Hail in good condition.”
Ricky Brabec (9) – Stage: 2ND Overall: 2ND:
“It was a long stage. I started second today behind my teammate, Tosha. He did an excellent job opening. I started out a little bit slow today, but fortunately I found the pace and picked it up a little bit. I caught up to Tosha and me and him kind of navigated the last 200 km together, it was cool. It was a fun time. I think we’re both in a really good position, I think we’re both happy on the day. The terrain with the navigation was tricky because we were on these big slab that had no track on it and you just really had to follow the CAP heading and trust yourself to make it to the end of the slab and hopefully there’s a road there. It got tricky a couple of times and I got off track early on and just had to compensate the CAP heading and kind of go off piste. I got super lucky two times and the waypoint opened, so after that I slowed down a little bit and just made sure I was navigating. I caught Tosha before refuelling so we navigated together a lot today and it was cool, you know, we had fun and I think we did an excellent job. The bike didn’t touch the ground today, I’ve just got to check over the tyres, but I think for the moment the bike is perfectly fine.”
Skyler Howes (10) – STAGE: 3RD OVERALL: 7TH:
“A tough day. I probably caught a chill from the air conditioning and my energy was at its lowest today. I tried to look after my tyres because we knew there could be issues, and I think I have a problem with one of them. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow with my rear tyre. I think the challenge will be about who can make it across the finish line with their tyres. I believe mine is not in very good condition. So it’s going to be interesting to see how tomorrow goes. If my tyre fails that’ll be the end of it, so hopefully we can make it through tomorrow. Tonight we’re going to sleep out in a tent and hopefully I can get some good rest, I’m going to need it. I feel pretty drained right now. Overall, the stage went good for me, a couple of little turnarounds out there, but this one was a long and demanding one. This is the Dakar, it’s always been pretty difficult but the last couple of years, this first week has been really challenging.”
