The strategy elevates Sunderland one day after being overtaken by a fortnight of rivals

If the director of the Dakar Rally, David Castera, has been warning for days that the penultimate stage could turn into a real nightmare for motorcycles, those in charge of marking the route, the most astute of the place listen to him and act accordingly. Even if that means giving up the overall lead in the final phase of the race or losing precious minutes in qualifying in search of a more delayed starting position that makes things easier for one when the sun rises, the day breaks and the immensity The desert is presented to one as the main dish of the day.

This is what some of the best placed riders did to bet on a final victory in Jeddah, the goal of this third edition of the Dakar in Saudi Arabia. Especially those who ride a KTM, the case of Matthias Walkner, leader of the general classification on Tuesday, third today; or a GasGas (which comes to be the same after the Austrian factory acquired the Spanish company), in the case of Sam Sunderland, now leader of the general classification after being overtaken by fifteen rivals, like his colleague Walkner, in the last stage of this Wednesday's timed special and is now third overall. That was the strategy devised by KTM, which has both of them well placed to finish on the final podium this Friday, the last day of competition.

This Thursday, launched from the 17th starting position, the British Sunderland was very fast, following the ruts of the pilots who preceded him, to attack and without having to think too much, to seal a magnificent comeback.

He finished with the second fastest time, four seconds slower than Kevin Benavides, the official KTM rider and champion in 2021, who acted as Walkner's squire.

The Austrian finished almost five minutes, fourth, after having sacrificed his fantastic position in the general standings a day before, aware that he was going to be in the lead on this loop stage around Bisha (345 kilometers of a lot of sand and difficult navigation; he started 26º) could be a fatal trap.

It was, indeed, for the fastest riders from the previous day.

For Toby Price (KTM), for example, who, as far as he was from the Dakar leadership, opted for the reverse strategy of his teammates.

He won the stage.

And he did not speculate with the times or with the positions.

This Thursday, at some point, he was lost.

Aimlessly.

Almost as much as Joan Barreda, who started third and ended up assuming the responsibility of opening the track.

He was off the beaten path for the first few kilometers of the race, but was forced to slow down as he led.

To him, the strategy that some (bad) thinking head of Honda must have worked out played a trick on him.

🧭 "Which way is it?"

🤷‍♂️

Opening the road on the Dakar is not always an easy task.

# Dakar2022 pic.twitter.com/Z41gu3nZMv

- DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 13, 2022

Both the Spaniard and his Monster Energy teammate Pablo Quintanilla committed an infraction the day before: speeding, which would cause them to lose some positions in the general classification (few) and which they believed would also make them a little further behind.

But it was not like that, they skipped (apparently consciously) a section of controlled speed in a link section, so that not having been during timed the sanction only affected the classification, not the times of the special or to the starting position.

A real disaster that they paid dearly for this Thursday.

Especially Barreda. That he started very quickly and when he had to make the decisions about the right route, he ended up leaving Bisha 25 minutes back. Price yielded 30. This Thursday was, indeed and as expected, the toughest stage of this Rally. "The luck is that I am in a room", Barreda conceded when explaining how he had lived it. “It was the hardest stage that I have had to live in the Dakar. And, in addition, open in the conditions in which I am, imagine. There has been a section that has been one of pure survival. The sand was very soft. I would get hooked on the dunes and I was suffering from gasoline consumption ”. On one of those occasions when he got stuck in the dunes, he even fell and ended up hitting his left clavicle again, which has suffered a fracture for a week.“Luciano (Benavides) and Toby (Price) had to help me, and they stopped so I could straighten the bike. I have to thank you. That is what makes you excited at the Dakar ”.

His teammate Quintanilla, who had a somewhat more delayed starting position (the tenth) did not come out so badly stopped.

He finished seven minutes behind Benavides, the fastest.

And it retains the second place in the classification one day after the end of the Dakar Rally.

That last day, this Friday, few surprises are expected in a shorter and easier timed session than the previous ones.

Second victory for Carlos Sainz

In cars, Carlos Sainz won his second stage this year at the wheel of his Audi.

The Madrilenian knew how to keep his rivals at a distance until he won the 41st victory of his record in the Dakar.

It is also the fourth stage that Audi has been awarded in this edition.

A magnificent baggage for the first participation in the race of the hybrid vehicle of the German manufacturer.

Sainz's triumph, however, has little effect on the general classification, more than three and a half hours as it is from the times set by Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota), dominator of the Rally from the first week. The Qatari is closer to getting his fourth Dakar, which would be his first in Saudi lands, after setting off a practically perfect race in which at no time did he feel really pressured by his rivals. Sainz's navigation errors in the first stage and Stéphane Peterhansel's mechanical problems paved the way for him in the Audi. Only Sebastien Loeb (Prodrive) has always remained at the top, although without too much inconvenience to Toyota. Al-Attiyah reaches the last stage with more than 33 minutes of margin as the leader of the general over the French,who also moved a little further after the day's special when he was sanctioned with five minutes for speeding in a controlled zone of the timed session.

Dakar Rally classifications.

Stage 11.

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