Stage one of the Dakar Rally 2022 is in the bag and Australian GasGas rider Daniel Sanders continues to lead the way at the head of a star-studded international cast of bike riders.
The initial prologue stage was a mere curtain-raiser for the riders, but, soon afterwards, the Dakar challenge turned extremely serious.
Navigation was the main protagonist of the day at several key points along the sandy tracks of the 333-kilometre special stage, in particular, some 50 kilometres from the end of the special where several riders lost their way.
However, with the Dakar barely underway, anything can still potentially happen.
Sanders (pictured here) won the special by more than three minutes to maintain his place at the top of the overall provisional classification.
His GasGas factory team-mate Sam Sunderland struggled to find a waypoint along with many of his rivals, but the British rider ultimately completed the stage as the sixth fastest rider.
Monster Energy Honda Team rider Pablo Quintanilla produced another fine performance to remain in the overall runner-up position, the Chilean arriving at the Ha’il bivouac satisfied with both his riding prowess and navigation.
Austrian Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team rider Matthias Walkner is now up from fifth to third overall.
The day proved to be a complicated one for Honda team-mates Joan Barreda, Ricky Brabec and José Ignacio Cornejo. The three experienced complications at one of the stage’s trickiest points and ended up conceding several minutes, dropping them down the RallyGP order.
In stark contrast to his winning ride on stage one of last year’s Dakar Rally, Australian KTM rider Toby Price unfortunately endured a hugely frustrating opening stage.
As one of the many riders to run into the same navigational issue, the Australian would eventually complete the special 47 minutes down on countryman and stage winner Sanders.
“So far things are shaping up really good,” said Sanders afterwards.
“After winning the Prologue yesterday, I got to choose my starting position and opted to start in 15th and then focus on chasing after the guys up front.
“There was some tricky navigation near the end of the special but I kept cool, avoided any huge errors and then l lead the stage to the end.
“This was great for me as it made sure I focused on my roadbook and, as I’ll lead out tomorrow, it was good to get a little experience of riding alone up front. I’m looking forward to the challenge ahead.”
The second stage of the Dakar is set to be dominated by dunes.
There will be several stretches of dunes occupying about a quarter of the 338-kilometre special stage.
With a total of 568 kilometres, this was intended to be the only marathon stage of the 2022 Dakar, finishing in Al Artawiyah, but due to a heavy downpour yesterday which flooded the originally planned site, the bivouac has been moved to Al Qaisumah.
As a result, there is no scheduled marathon stage and RallyGP riders will be able to receive external mechanical assistance like on any other race day.
Photo courtesy GasGas
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Rider Standings:
Provisional Standings after Stage 1B:
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Sanders Daniel | 4 | AUS | Gas Gas Factory Team | Gas Gas | 04:38’40 |
| 2 | Quintanilla Pablo | 7 | CHI | Monster Energy Honda Team | Honda | +00:03’07 |
| 3 | Walkner Matthias | 52 | AUT | Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team | KTM | +00:11’06 |
| 4 | Van Beveren Adrien | 42 | FRA | Monster Energy Yamaha Rally Team | Yamaha | +00:12’46 |
| 5 | Sunderland Sam | 3 | GBR | Gas Gas Factory Team | Gas Gas | +00:15’56 |
| 6 | Santolino Lorenzo | 15 | SPA | Sherco TVS Rally Factory | Sherco | +00:16’54 |
| 7 | de Soultrait Xavier | 12 | FRA | HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racing | Husqvarna | +00:18’36 |
| 8 | Evan Branch Ross | 16 | BWA | Monster Energy Yamaha Rally Team | Yamaha | +00:19’21 |
| 9 | Howes Skyler | 5 | USA | Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing | Husqvarna | +00:25’12 |
| 10 | Maré Aaron | 6 | RSA | Hero Motorsports Team Rally | Hero | +00:27’33 |