The 2026 Dakar Rally has kicked off with the 22 km timed prologue giving riders their first taste, with KTM claiming three of the top-five positions, led by Edgar Canet, marking his first special victory, if a particularly short one. That does make the Spanish rider the youngest stage winner at just 20-years-old.
Edgar Canet – Dakar 2026 Prologue – Image by Marcelo Maragni / Red Bull Content Pool
Right behind him was Australia’s Daniel Sanders, only three-seconds off the 11m31s leading time, with Ricky Brabec third, a further two-seconds off the leader, and representing the top Honda HRC rider.
Sanders is already strategising, taking advantage of his prologue placing to lock in a starting position of 16th for the first full stage tomorrow, with opening the route each day a risk-filled venture.
Daniel Sanders
“P2. What a cracker way to start the Dakar Rally. This means I am able to choose my starting position for tomorrow, so I have decided to start back at position 16. The head is good, the body is good and the bike is good! Let’s bring on tomorrow.”
Daniel Sanders – Dakar 2026 Prologue – Image by Marcelo Maragni / Red Bull Content Pool
Ricky Brabec – P3
“The prologue was great, I made it to the finish in a good position so we’re looking good for tomorrow. I’m happy to get some speed under our belt and shake the monkey off our back. Overall it’s a good start, but tomorrow starts the real Dakar Rally.”
Ricky Brabec – Dakar 2026 Prologue
Luciano Benavides marked the third KTM in fourth, followed by Hero Motorsports’ Ross Branch, who is off to a good start, in turn followed by Michael Docherty of BAS World KTM, who led the Rally2 class.
Luciano Benavides – Dakar 2026 Prologue – Image by Kin Marcin / Red Bull Content Pool
The rest of the Honda HRC roster claimed seventh through ninth, with Schareina just a second ahead of van Beveren, while Howes was a further eight-seconds in arrears.
Tosha Schareina – Dakar 2026 Prologue
Tosha Schareina – P6
“It was not easy, so different from the prologues we normally do as part of the World Rally-Raid Championship. It was so fast, flat out and I tried to push, finishing in sixth. I think we will have a good position for tomorrow. We will aim to start further back, but it’s just the first day and we have 13 more days ahead, so we’ll just go for it.”
Adrien Van Beveren – Dakar 2026 Prologue
Adrien Van Beveren – P7
It was good to release the nerves today. It was quite a fast prologue, like almost full gas all the way. I maybe at some point came off the gas a bit too much, but overall I felt really good. The bike is comfortable, I feel safe and I can’t wait to start tomorrow for the long stages.”
Skyler Howes – Dakar 2026 Prologue
Skyler Howes – P8
“The prologue was good for me, I really enjoy prologues like this, I mean this is the biggest race in the world, so to have nice open desert on a fast prologue is really cool and a longer one as well. It felt good out there, the bike is feeling good, we’ve been working hard as a team and I have a decent result so it will put me in a good position for the start of the rally which is stage one, that’s when the real racing begins. I’m happy to be here at the start of my eighth Dakar now, which is crazy to say and it’s a dream come true to be here with Monster Energy Honda HRC and I’m happy. I’m looking forward to these next two weeks of chaos.”
Rounding out the top-10 was Martin Michek.
Another Aussie sits in 81st in the form of David Brock, nephew of legend Peter Brock, and riding a KTM 450 RR, having competed the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge and the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal (both W2RC legs) in 2025.
Behind Rally2 leader Docherty were Tobias Ebster and Konrad Dąbrowski, while rookies Preston Campbell and Ruy Barbosa, both astride Hondas, rounded out the top five in their class.
It wasn’t all roses for competitors, Neels Theric had an electric failure at just 6 km on his Kove Factory machine, and would finish the day with a time of 2h43m29s, after the same failure reappeared just 2.5 km from the stage finish, ending the day last in 115th.
In the Ultimate four-wheel class, Toby Price and navigator Armand Monleon sit 16th with the Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC car.
Stage One Tomorrow:
Stage one begins tomorrow and will provide the first true test of Dakar endurance for both riders.Departing from the Yanbu bivouac, competitors will face a demanding total distance of 518 km, including 305 km of timed special across rugged, rocky terrain inland, before looping back to camp after a long day in the saddle.
