Honda rider Adrien Van Beveren clinched his first stage victory in this year's Dakar Rally, proving fastest in today's tenth stage, which covered a competitive distance of 410 kilometers.
The French competitor completed the distance in 4:15:43, outpacing his teammate Ricky Brabec by 3:49. Brabec initially posted the fourth-fastest time, 5:26 behind, but received a 1:37 minute compensation from the organizers for stopping to assist a crashed Daniel Sanders of KTM.
Last year's winner and the overall leader at the start of the day, Daniel Sanders, suffered a heavy fall 138 kilometers into the stage, injuring his left shoulder. Despite the setback, the Australian continued and reached the stage finish but lost nearly half an hour, consequently surrendering his leading position in the race for victory.
Luciano Benavides (KTM) secured third place for the day, finishing 4:04 behind Van Beveren. Skyler Howes (Honda) and Nacho Cornejo (Hero) rounded out the top five, trailing stage winner Van Beveren by 4:51 and 6:34 respectively.
In the general classification, with three stages remaining, Brabec leads with a total time of 41:35:13, holding a narrow 56-second advantage over Benavides. Tosha Schareina sits third, 15:43 behind the leader, after posting the eighth-fastest time today. Following his stage win, Van Beveren moved up to sixth place, 58:25 adrift of Brabec. After losing nearly half an hour, Sanders dropped to fourth, 17:37 back, but it remains uncertain whether the Australian will continue in the rally.
The rally continues tomorrow with the 11th stage between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, which will cover a total distance of 883 kilometers for motorcyclists. Of this, only 346 kilometers will be timed, with the remaining 537 being liaison sections.