Howes leads Honda HRC 1-2 at Dakar Stage 11

2026 Dakar Rally

Stage 11 – Bisha to Al Henakiyah

Skyler Howes competes in his eighth Dakar Rally this year, but Stage 11 of the 2026 running marked his first special win, as well as becoming the ninth American rider to win a stage, with fellow Monster Energy Honda HRC rider Adrien Van Beveren making it a Honda 1-2.

With three stages remaining at the start of the day, riders faced a daunting total distance of 883 km, including 346 km of flat-out timed racing.  While speed was the dominant factor on the rally’s quickest special stage, competitors still had to stay sharp through technical navigation and rocky terrain as the route wound north toward Al Henakiyah.

Top Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider was Edgar Canet, who rounded out the top-three, with an injured Daniel Sanders clearly struggling with his broken collarbone and sternum to finish in a respectable 13th, only 10m28s off leading pace.

Pretty good considering he stated he’d be ‘cruising’ yesterday, due to that injury he picked up after crashing going over a dune at 140km/h. He still sits fourth too, in the overall standings, but that advantage he’d built up is closing.

Daniel Sanders

“I definitely felt every bump out there today. It was an enjoyable stage overall and one I remembered from last year, especially the fast, flat sections, but once we hit the rocks and sand it became really tough. Any section where you had to hold onto the bike and fight it, you could really feel it through the collarbone. It wasn’t pleasant, but I’m happy to get through another day. With two stages still to go, I’d much rather be out there riding and finishing the race than watching from the sidelines. The focus now is simply to keep going and make it to the end.”

It also looks like the Honda clan have figured out a strategy to boost Ricky Brabec’s winning chances, with stage opener Adrien Van Beveren waiting for his teammate after refuelling, and in doing so sharing the valuable opener’s bonus points.

Brabec had his own strategies going on, easing off the pace towards the end of the stage to ensure he’d be starting behind main rival for the title Luciano Benavides, with the lead a potentially dangerous place to be if you’re at the pointy end of the overall going into the last couple of stages.

With the vast majority of the remaining mileage in tomorrow’s stage 12, Brabec is making sure he’s in the best position to take advantage.

Just 1m15s separated the top three to Canet, from the 3h09m02s best time held by Howes, Van Beveren in between, 21-seconds off the leader.

Skyler Howes

“I’m happy. The stage was really fast and I just did a good job of navigating, pushed it to the end, so I consider that a perfect stage. I came away with the win which means a lot to give back to the team, they deserve stage wins, they deserve a lot and I’m happy to give that to them a little bit. Tomorrow, my job just means I’ve got to do a perfect job. All I’m looking forward to is opening the stage, doing the best I can and not make a single mistake and put Ricky into a good of position as possible. So I’ll just do my best, that’s all I can do.”

Adrien Van Beveren

“I really gave my best and I’m happy with my riding and my feeling on the bike right now. When you open and your teammate is leading the Dakar starting behind you, I was navigating and he was following, so if I made a mistake he would probably do it too. I tried my best and luckily made no mistakes.”

Edgar Canet

“I’m happy with how the day went overall. I pushed hard and really gave everything, especially because I was aiming for the stage win. I lost a few minutes after getting slightly off course while trying to follow some riders ahead, but it was a good learning experience. In the second part of the stage, I felt very strong, and was able to push the pace and recover some good time. With two stages to go, I’ll stay focused, keep the speed high, and do everything I can to support the team and finish the rally strongly.”

Trailing the rally leader by a mere 56 seconds coming into today’s stage, Benavides knew a solid performance on the fast and demanding special would keep him well in the running for the top positions overall. Delivering a calculated ride, the Argentine avoided any navigation mistakes and maintained a strong pace from start to finish. Benavides finished the day in fourth (+3m37s), followed by Tosha Schareina (+4m06) and Brabec (+4m56s).

Tosha Schareina

“We have another good position, we’ll start fifth tomorrow. I think all the riders in the team were in front so that’s a good plan. Today, was a combination between fast and then really slow amongst the stones. It was good, I started behind and I tried to just arrive to the end of the stage.”

Seventh went to Sherco mounted Bradley Cox, followed by Hero mounted Ross Branch, with Mulec and Ventura rounding out the top-10. Leading Hoto rider was Mason Klein in 12th, just ahead of Sanders.

Aussie David Brock ended the day in 82nd, and now sits 83rd overall.

Toby Price in the Ultimate finished the day in 13th and sits eighth overall.

Benavides leads Brabec – 23-second gap

Provisional standings now have Benavides leading Brabec by the already mentioned 23-seconds, with third-placed Schareina trailing by 15m16s. Brabec had carried an almost four-minute lead earlier in the stage, but gave up that advantage.

Luciano Benavides

“Today was extremely fast, and in some sections the terrain was quite tricky, so I focused on riding smart and avoiding unnecessary risks. It wasn’t always safe to push flat out, but I gave everything I could within my limits. I didn’t follow any particular strategy, just focused on doing my own race and controlling what I can control. The overall standings are still very tight, and nothing will be decided until the final day, so the plan is to push hard tomorrow and give 100 percent until the very end, regardless of what anyone else does.”

Ricky Brabec

“Today it was the fastest stage and they had said this at the briefing. Everyday has been fast this week, we were like, “how can they get any faster?” But today was full gas, we were to the stop for 85% of the day. I did the best I could to catch my teammate Adrien and then we rode together, well he navigated and I kind of sat in his dust to collect some bonus time. Stage 11 was good, it was fast, a little bit technical and tricky, but I managed to manage myself well and now I think we’re in a good position for stage 12.”

Sanders still holds fourth – 23m32s off the leader, but Howes is closing in, just under 11-minutes behind him. He clawed back just over six-minutes on the injured Aussie for stage 11.

Van Beveren then sits a more distant sixth +54m13s, with Cornejo, Branch, Mulec and Campbell rounding out the top-10.

Rally 2

Incredibly, in the Rally2 class at the end of a 346-km special, just one second separated Toni Mulec and Martim Ventura for victory in the special. If that was not crazy enough, third placed Michael Docherty finished only 5 seconds behind. Like Howes in the Rally GP division, Mulec has won for the first time in his career at the Dakar in the Rally 2 class, making him the third rider to lead to class this running.

The Slovenian launched a blistering comeback against the American and has taken the lead by 2’27’’ but it is by no means over yet. Martim Ventura (in 3rd) put a second factory Honda on the podium behind his team-mate, trailing Mulec by 1 hour and 41 minutes but 20 minutes ahead of Konrad Dabrowski, who is in 4th.

Next: Stage 12

Friday’s stage 12, the penultimate of the event, will continue to test the riders with a varied mix of terrain, ranging from small dunes to riverbeds and fast tracks. Another long day in total, the stage will cover 720 kilometres, with 311 kilometres raced against the clock.

2026 Dakar Rally Stage 11 Results
(Provisional)

2026 Dakar Rally Standings after Stage 11
(Provisional)

2026 Dakar Rally Route/Schedule

2026 Dakar Rally Route/Schedule

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