With overnight leader Daniel Sanders (GasGas) losing time to his rivals after opening the road and then conceding further ground with a costly navigational error, the bikes category was blown wide open in the 338km special between Ha’il and Al Qaisumah.
Spanish veteran Barreda took full advantage of Sanders’ trouble, scoring his 28th Dakar stage win to thrust himself inside the top 10 in the general classifications after a difficult start to the rally on Saturday.
Having stood only 17th overall and 40 minutes down on Sanders heading into the stage, Barreda was quick from the get go on his Honda CRF 450 Rally bike, running second behind Sherco’s Rui Goncalves before grabbing the lead at the fourth waypoint.
He continued to pull away from his rivals thereafter, eventually winning the stage by a comprehensive margin of 5m33s from Sunderland.
2017 Dakar winner Sunderland had endured his own fair share of troubles in the opening two days of the rally, but with Honda’s Pablo…
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