DAKAR 2022, STAGE 8

Sam Sunderland bounced back into the lead by winning stage 8 today. As the rally comes into the final stretch, the “yoyo syndrome” is more evident than ever. Sunderland started 28th this morning and was able to set a fast pace–perhaps a little too fast as he will have to start up front tomorrow. The Americans all did well. Ricky Brabec, in particular, is riding an excellent race, consistently starting the in top 10 and then staying in the top 10. His rally is still suffering from a stage 1 misfortune that saw him lose an hour and 16 minutes. He now trails by half of that, but there are only four days left.

Today was the lengthiest stage of this edition, at 830 km. On the agenda were 395 km of special stage across the southern part of Saudi Arabia, with plenty of sand and a lot of dunes to be tackled. From Al Dawadimi it was on to Wadi Ad-Dawasir, on a day featuring more kilometers of link section than special stage. The most southerly located bivouac in this Dakar will be the destination for two stages: tomorrow, a new looping stage will see competitors charter territory in the vast Empty Quarter.

Sam Sunderland: “That was a really challenging stage today. There was a lot of sand early on but then near the end there were a lot of canyons to navigate through. You had to be really patient and choose the right one as it would be so easy to get lost and lose time. The guys opening, fortunately, did a great job, which made things a little easier for me but after leading out yesterday, I know how tough that can be. Early on I was pushing hard and I was a bit too aggressive with a few small crashes in the sand so I had to settle down a bit, get into a rhythm, and it paid off as I was able to take the stage win. We have some long days ahead, but today’s result is just what I needed after everything that happened yesterday.”

Ricky Brabec: “Today we clicked off just over 820km and was another fast one we dunes, rivers, valleys, and rocks. We Spent the day out there alone and couldn’t close the gap to the front riders, happy with how I’m riding and ready to go for the next 4. We are in the exact positions we want to be in thus far, the time gap is severe for us but we will keep pushing anyhow, anyway, all time.:

Mason Klein: “Good easy day for me tomorrow we start further upfront hopefully we can get some work done.”

Andrew Short: “Today was a little rough for me. I needed to pick up my pace a little to make up a bit more time so from the start I really pushed, but after 19 kilometres I got lost. So that wasn’t a great start to the day. Once I figured out where I was I got back into it and my pace was pretty decent after that. After refueling I really nailed the navigation so despite a bad start, I turned it around pretty good. I’m still aiming for a strong finish to the race and with four days to go there’s still a long way to the end.”

STAGE 8

PROVISIONAL STANDINGS AFTER STAGE 8