The French rider went into Thursday’s 346km loop around Bisha leading the rally overall by nearly six minutes, but as the fourth rider in the running order he suffered on the first part of the stage.
After just 43km, van Beveren had already conceded 13 minutes to the leaders as he struggled to find an early waypoint, and that deficit grew to 21m33s by the end of the stage as he suffered two crashes and also had to save fuel having covered extra distance.
It means the Yamaha man is now facing a deficit of 15m30s to new leader Sam Sunderland with just Friday’s final stage from Bisha to Jeddah remaining.
“At four kilometres there was a waypoint that didn’t open [activate],” said van Beveren. “I was a bit too far to the left, so I went to the right to find it. The first time, it didn’t open, then I saw a rider open it, and I told myself that it must be there.
“I went there, still not open… I’m not sure the waypoint was in the right place. I was at the right kilometre, I didn’t open…
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