Dakar: French driver Pierre Cherpin dies after serious accident
Argentine
Kevin Benavides
conquered the 43rd edition of
the Dakar Rally
leading a Honda double in the motorcycle category, ahead of American
Ricky Brabec
, his teammate on the Honda team.
Lorenzo Santolino
(Sherco Factory), sixth, at 58:30 behind the winner, was the best classified Spaniard, after the abandonment of
Joan Barreda
in the previous stage.
Brabec was the winner of the twelfth and last stage, with 2:17 minutes ahead of Benavides, who controlled the difference with the North American from his second place after overtaking his main opponent at the beginning of the stage, the British
Sam Sunderland
( KTM).
It is
Honda's first
Dakar
double
since Frenchman Cyril Neveu won the title in 1987, followed by Italian Edi Orioli.
The Dakar 2021 ended with a day of
227 kilometers
of connection and
225 of special
until the finish of Jeddah, which Benavides faced with a 4:12 income over Sunderland and the goal of becoming the
first South American champion
of the Dakar Rally in the category of motorcycles.
Two years ago Benavides was already on the verge of achieving it, when he finished second, behind the Austrian
Matthias Walkner
.
The starting order in the last stage hurt Sunderland, winner of Thursday's stage, who had to open the track and in the first control he already lost more than 11 minutes with Brabec -which was ahead of him on the final podium- and 10 with Benavides .
The Argentine used a conservative tactic.
Once he overtook Sunderland, he just kept his teammate Brabec from getting too far behind to cap off a great Dakar in which he
won two stages
and was especially strong in the second week.
The victory in the last stage allowed Brabec, the defending motorcycle champion, to unseat Sunderland from the second step on the final podium, 4:56 minutes behind Benavides.
The Brit finished third at 15:57.
The Spanish
Joan Barreda
, who faced the rally as a candidate for the final victory, had to leave this Thursday when he was fifth overall.
The Honda rider
skipped the refueling point and continued until the tank was exhausted
.
It was then that he demanded the intervention of the medical team and was evacuated by helicopter to the bivouac.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more
Dakar Rally
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The Dakar takes its biggest victim: the motorcycle leader, Cornejo, retires
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