Argentinian Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna) signed his third success in the Dakar-2023 by winning the 11th stage in the motorcycle category on Thursday, which allowed his American teammate Skyler Howes to return to the top of the general standings.
Benavides emerged victorious from the first of two marathon stages (274 km of special, without mechanical assistance) traced in the Empty Quarter, an ocean of sand and dunes presented as the highlight of this 45th edition, ahead of the Australian Daniel Sanders (GasGas), 2nd at 1 min 38 sec, and the Australian Toby Price (KTM), 3rd at 1 min 56 sec.
Howes finished in 4th place 2:09 behind the day’s winner, according to provisional results.
The French Romain Dumontier, who runs in the amateur category, signed a good performance with his 7th place.
In the general classification, Howes, 2nd at the start of the stage with a little more than a minute behind Argentinian Kevin Benavides (KTM), brother of Luciano, is back in the lead, but he only has 28 seconds behind. ahead of Price and 2 min 44 sec ahead of Kevin Benavides.
Before the last three stages and the finish in Damman, the race for the final victory therefore remains very undecided on the bikes.
Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren (Honda) failed to close the gap and remains 5th 15 minutes from the podium.
The pilots are installed in a reduced camp Thursday evening, surrounded by mountains of ocher-colored dunes. They have no assistance until the end of Friday’s stage to Shaybah.