Sam Sunderland (KTM) won the 11th and penultimate stage of the Dakar 2021 and in the category reserved for two wheels the victory on the eve of the arrival in Jeddah remains uncertain.
Tomorrow's stage will be decisive in determining who will win this 43rd edition of the rally.
In the overall standings, Argentinian Kevin Benavides (Honda) remains in the lead, but has only 4'12 "ahead of Sunderland, while American Ricky Brabec (Honda), winner of the event in 2020, dropped to third place , at 7'13 ".
Sunderland completed the 470 km long stage in 4h35'12 ". The Briton, 31, took advantage of the misadventures of the Honda riders. Spaniard Joan Barreda Bort, fourth overall at the start of the stage, retired after running out of gas at the 267 km and Brabec got lost. Chilean Pablo Quintanilla (Husqvarna) crossed the line in second position, 2'40 "from Sunderland, with Benavides third at 6'24".
In cars the Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota) took the fifth stage success, ahead of the French Stéphane Peterhansel (Mini), firmly in the lead of the general classification on the eve of the final finish.
Al-Attiyah covered the 470 kilometers between Al Ula and Yanbu in 4h34'24 ". He preceded Peterhansel by 1'56" and the Spanish Carlos Sainz by 2'26 ".
Al-Attiyah, who has six wins in this Dakar 2021 if you take into account the prologue, he should have a hard time overtaking Peterhansel during the last stage, with "only" 225 km of special to recover 15'05 "behind.
The third overall, Sainz, is over an hour behind Peterhansel.