Dubai-based Briton Sunderland has put himself in a strong position to clinch a second Dakar crown with a solid run on Thursday’s 346km loop around Bisha, as several of his main rivals in the general classification lost considerable ground due to navigational woes.
The GasGas rider led for most of the stage but dropped time following the penultimate waypoint to miss out on a second win of the rally by a mere four seconds to Benavides, who rejoined the event after his retirement on Wednesday.
Nonetheless, Sunderland will take a lead of 6m52s into Friday’s relatively short final stage from Bisha to Jeddah.
Yamaha’s Adrien van Beveren led Sunderland by almost six minutes overnight, but was fourth in the running order for Friday and suffered accordingly – along with the three riders starting ahead of him, Stage 10 winner Toby Price (KTM), Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna) and Joan Barreda (Honda).
Van Beveren lost the least time of this group, but still haemorrhaged some 21 minutes to…
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