Barreda makes history in the Dakar

Joan Barreda achieved stage victory on the third day of Dakar competition for Honda, thus ranking as the third motorcycle rider with the most victories in the history of the competition (28), five from the record of 33 shared by the French Stephane peterhansel Y Cyril Despres. The day began marked by heavy rains and storms that forced the cancellation of the marathon stage and, in the competition, with the surprise of the Portuguese Rui Gonçalves (Sherco), who started dominating. Always with Barreda in second position, stalking, until the Portuguese lost the devilish rhythm with which he started. At the first checkpoint, with only 40 timed kilometers, he led the Spaniard in 5 minutes and 56 seconds.

In the second it dropped to 3’28 “, in the third to 35” … and in the fourth it was the Spaniard who hit the ax at Gonçalves (1’36 ”) and the rest of the rivals, who earned him the stage victory with 5’33” ahead of the second classified, a surprising Sam sunderland (Gas Gas), since he did not appear at any control point of the organization until the last, when he slipped second. Third was the Argentine Kevin Benavides (KTM), who was gradually picking up pace until he was in the best times aware that he had to cut back after suffering with navigation on Sunday. And he did so by cutting down to 19 minutes and 4 seconds the one who was leader of the general classification after the first two days of competition, the Austrian Daniel Sanders (Gas Gas), who this Monday was very far from the rhythm shown previously, accusing the opening track as Chilean Pablo Quintanilla (Honda), who in his case lost 30’53 ”.

Another beautiful stage, and we still have 10 left! Take a look at the best landscapes of the day with Soudah ⬇️# Dakar2022 | @SoudahDevCo pic.twitter.com/PyD5VJwboj

– RALLY DAKAR (@dakar) January 3, 2022

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As for cars, the French Sebastien Loeb (Bahrain Raid Xtreme) won in the second stage with 3 minutes and 38 seconds ahead of the general leader in cars, the Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota), thus placing 9’6 ”from the three-time winner of the category (2011, 2015 and 2019). A day that was also uneventful for the Spanish Carlos Sainz Y Lucas Cruz. After wasting two hours at the fateful Sunday checkpoint, they proved again on Monday that the innovative Audi hybrid has pace to fight. He was third at each checkpoint, going through some difficulty in sixth, and they got around the traffic well after starting in positions further behind than usual to finish in that position, 5 minutes and 52 seconds behind the winner. Loeb, and climb positions in the general.

After the fateful day for Audi on Sunday, the German brand put its two other drivers in the top ten. The French Stephane peterhansel, who no longer has options when breaking the rear suspension of his car in the previous stage, finished fourth at 7’56 ”behind Loeb, while the Swede Mattias Ekstrom He finished ninth, 13 minutes and 30 seconds behind the Frenchman. Another Spaniard whose chances of victory were complicated by navigation was Nani Rome (Bahrain Raid Xtreme). The winner of the Dakar in motorcycles in 2004 and in cars in 2014, finished the special fifth, losing 8 minutes and 2 seconds compared to his teammate.