It was Daniel Sanders who led the majority of the rain-shortened 155km Stage 3 near Al Qaisumah, recovering from a difficult outing on Monday that had dropped him from first to third in the general classification.
The GasGas rider pulled out a lead of just over a minute over the chasing pack led by Rodrigues at the first waypoint and was able to hold on to that advantage until the penultimate checkpoint.
However, the Australian sophomore dropped nearly four minutes to the frontrunners in the final 35km stretch until the finishing line, allowing Rodrigues to come through and clinch the stage win.
It marked the maiden victory in a stage for the Portuguese rider in five successive Dakar participations – as well as the first for Indian two-wheeler manufacturer Hero.
Two-time Dakar champion Toby Price enjoyed his best finish so far in 2022, ending up a 1m03s behind Rodrigues in second position on the factory KTM.
This year’s star rookie Mason Klein put on another impressive…
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