Brabec wins Dakar Stage Six as Sanders hit with penalty

2026 Dakar Rally

Stage Six – Hail to Riyadh

Daniel Sanders topped the original time sheets at stage six of the Dakar Rally, with a looming speeding penalty set to change the official outcome. The Australian proving unstoppable in the sand, quickly catching Luciano Benavides after the neutralised zone and setting a formidable pace in opening the stage.

Closest competitors were Honda HRC riders Ricky Brabec and Tosha Schareina, but with that speeding penalty adding six-minutes, Sanders dropped to third for the day and had his overall lead cut down to just 45-seconds. That’s down from the 2m02s he carried in.

Ricky Brabec

“It’s cool to win the stage. The day after rest day is a big day so hopefully we get a good opening bonus. It was a long day in the saddle, we left the bivouac at 4am so I’m a little bit tired, my eyes are heavy, however, the body is good. I’m definitely looking forrward to sleeping tonight. The team is looking good, we’re all riding really well, the mechanics are doing a good job. We’ll enjoy our rest day and make a solid push for the second week.”

Tosha Schareina

“It was hard again, we rode for 12 hours on the bike. It was not easy because we did over 300 km all in the dunes. I tried to push but the riders in front were on the gas. I tried to catch time and finally I got second place, making some time up on Luciano Benavides overall. Even after yesterday’s penalty, we are still in the battle for next week.”

With the penalty applied, Brabec won with a 3h41m33s, 1m14s ahead of Schareina, and 1m17s ahead of Sanders.

Daniel Sanders

“It was a good and bad day, it was so tough, I don’t know the results yet or anything. It was so tough out front, some of the notes… it was, I didn’t even know, the waypoint just opened. It was an emotional roller coaster all day. Unfortunately I got a speed penalty which will set me back a bit, but I just pushed all day, as I got that at km five, so there’s a penalty coming, which I’m disappointed with that. We’ll see how I end up, hopefully there was chaos behind, it’s hard to do well in the sand, especially opening. I would have been super happy with the whole stage without the penalty. I haven’t pieced this first week together so well, so I need to clean it up for the second. I’m not happy with the first week, I should have done a lot better, just silly mistakes. We should have a bigger lead in the overall, but that’s what happens in Rally. So many things change everyday, and you just have to keep pushing to the limit. Happy to get to the rest day, it felt good riding today, let’s see what we can do the second week.”

Behind the top-three was Skyler Howes (+8m46), followed by Adrien van Beveren (+10m04) in fifth, marking the full Honda HRC team in the top-five.

Skyler Howes

“The stage was good. I had a couple of little issues, I fell over once and made a little navigation error, but I pushed hard, had a decent stage finish and made it to rest day so that’s good. We’re 30 minutes back in the overall now but I’m looking forward to next week.”

Adrien Van Beveren

“The day was OK and I enjoyed the sand. The first part I pushed hard, but then I made a navigation mistake. It was good to start further back, but I followed a rider in front and we went on the wrong side of the fence for one minute and then had to come back. I lost time there and then during the second part of the stage I was pushing hard, but the lines were going really off CAP and I decided to go on my own. I lost quite a bunch of time, I took my decision and I have no regrets, but I think the riders did better on the fast tracks.”

Luciano Benavides finished the stage in sixth (+10m20), as only the second KTM Factory rider, followed by Toni Mulec (16m49s), and the Hero duo of  Ignacio Cornejo (+17m12) and Ross Branch (+18m17).

Luciano Benavides

“It wasn’t the easiest stage for me today. I started off well and then Daniel passed me somewhere after kilometre 50. I hit one dune quite hard and so after that I decided to ease off a little to protect myself. The rest of the stage went ok; I just focused on making it to the finish safely and in good time. The plan now is to get plenty of rest tomorrow and then come back strong for week two.”

Following a difficult stage five, Canet was the 20th rider to enter stage six. Treating the long special as an opportunity to rebuild confidence and refine his navigation in the dunes, the young Spaniard delivered a solid and controlled performance to finish 15th.

Edgar Canet

“I feel good after today’s stage. Obviously, after the issues I had yesterday, I have lost a lot of time on the others, so I just wanted to ride my own race today, focus on learning and gaining some more knowledge in the dunes. I think I did a good job, so now I’m looking forward to rest day, recharge, and continue to work on things in week two.”

Sanders retains narrow lead after Stage Six

With the penalty applied Sanders’ advantage dropped to the already mentioned 45s over Brabec, but it’s a 10m15s gap from the leader to third-placed Benavides.

Schareina (+11m56) and Hero rider Cornejo (+29m50) round out the top-five, followed by Howes, van Beveren, Cox as top Sherco, Campbell and Branch.

Docherty had looked set for an impressive fourth place finish overall, while topping the Rally 2 class but was handed a seven-minute penalty for speeding on two occasions. Despite the setback he still finished ahead of Mulec and Neels Theric, who rounded out the Rally 2 top-three.

David Brock dropped to 94th for the stage, picking up significant penalties, and sits 92nd overall.

Aussie Toby Price was also having a good day in the Ultimate four-wheeled class, ranking seventh in the first two checkpoints, before hitting fourth by the third at km 204, with a potential stage win within reach, however he ended the day in fourth, 4m19s off the lead and is 15th heading into the rest day.

Next: Riyadh Rest Day (Saturday)

We’ve reached the effective mid-point of the 2026 Dakar Rally, with a rest day in Riyadh, with seven stages (including the prologue) complete and another seven to go when racing resumes on Sunday, when the 876-kilometre route will include a gruelling 462-kilometre timed special.

Riders will also face a second marathon, across stages nine and 10 next week, before wrapping up with a short final day of racing for stage 13.

2026 Dakar Rally Stage Six Results
(Provisional)

2026 Dakar Rally Standings after Stage Six
(Provisional)

2026 Dakar Rally Route/Schedule

2026 Dakar Rally Route/Schedule

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