Stage 08

Started 1292 days, 21 hours, 42 minutes ago

Date & Time
Sun 8th January 2023 Local
Sun 8th January 2023 12:00am UTC

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League
Dakar Rally

Season
2023

Round
Round 8

Status

Location
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Riyadh

Video Highlights

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Description

The final challenge before the rest day left no room for error. The loop south of Al Duwadimi, originally scheduled for the day before, was shortened to 345 kilometres to give the entire field time to take the long road section leading to the bivouac in Riyadh. Before that, the competitors wrestled with the devilish navigation of the stage, both on the gravel tracks at the start of the special and in the sequence of valleys and chains of dunes in the finale. The gruelling course took a heavy toll on the bikers tasked with opening the road, even with the time bonuses awarded to the first three. Ross Branch pounced on the opportunity to claim victory, as did Sébastien Loeb, but it is Skyler Howes and Nasser Al Attiyah who are in charge at the halfway point.