Stage 1 was a 623 KM route from Jeddah to Bisha, 277 KM of which was competitive stage.
Ricky Brabec, the reigning champion, had a flawless day yesterday at the prologue and got the tough job of opening the inaugural special. But along the way it turned out to be trickier to navigate today’s special and he lost buckets of time. The moment that he and his team mate Joan Barreda got lost caught on the helicopter cam, video link. He completed the day with P24 by falling 18’32” behind the leader.
Two-time Dakar winner Toby Price on the other hand got into the stage 9th after the prologue and with a great pace he managed to finish the day on top with 3H18’26”. It was Kevin Benavides who came in P2 and Matthias Walkner P3.
Retirements of the day;
Willy Jobard, who was racing on a hybrid hydrogen-powered motorbike, will have to call it quits after hurting his left hip in a crash after 93 kilometers.
Jhon Trejos is unable to keep going after hurting his right wrist in a crash at km 98.
Stage Comments
Ricky Brabec ” Difficult day after attempting to lead out on this one, Navigation was super tricky and not a day to start up in the front. Looking forward to tomorrow’s stage as it’s only just begun…”
Toby Price “Opening stage went well! Made the finish line, looked after the tyres and bike but navigation was very tricky. I got lost a little at the end about 7km from the finish which lost me a little time but all in all, happy to take the stage win. It’s been a good clean day for us with a few minor mistakes, just got to stay calm and make it work!”
Matthias Walkner “Stage 1 – 3rd place! It was a good but tough day! I didn’t take too much risk and found a good combination of the right navigation, speed and risk. It was a good start but it’s only day 1.”
