Affording all riders no time to ease their way into the 2020 running of the event, stage one of this year’s Dakar Rally served up a long and challenging day in the saddle. Prioritising safety over speed, all riders completed the day without problems while truly experiencing the varied nature of the Middle Eastern terrain for the first time.
Expecting the day’s stage to feature much more sand, Adrien Van Beveren nevertheless successfully completed the 319-kilometre special to post the 10th fastest time. The 20th rider to start the stage, Adrien was running as high as third before losing some time in the dust of riders ahead of him. In finishing 10th he will start stage two in an advantageous position.
Going into the event’s opening stage with a clear plan of not pushing too hard, Xavier de Soultrait executed a solid performance to finish 13th and place just three positions behind Van Beveren. Similarly to his teammate, Xavier struggled with the dust raised by riders ahead, causing him to lose valuable minutes on the latter half of the special.
As the rider that opened much of stage one, Franco Caimi ended the first day of Dakar competition both a little frustrated with his 17th place final result but also pleased with his navigation. Fully focused on his navigation while also adjusting to the varied terrain he ended the stage looking forward to his day two starting position.
Learning much from his first day of Dakar Rally competition, Jamie McCanney made it to the finish with little in the way of troubles. Feeling the sense of occasion at the start of the day he soon settled down to produce the day’s 34th fastest time.
Stage two of the 2020 Dakar Rally will challenge the Monster Energy Yamaha Rally Team with a 367-kilometre special from Al Wajh to Neom. In addition, it is also the event’s first super marathon stage, which limits mechanical repair time to just 10 minutes per competitor.
