Moraes takes Dakar Stage 7 win as Sanders dazzles again in bikes

The seventh stage of the Dakar Rally took the competitors out of Al Duwadimi for a wide loop to the southwest of the city, stretching for a shade over 410 km following a decision to cut some of the course off the start. Fast sections on limestone plateaus began to give way to dunes as the dominant landscape on the course. The downpours of the last few days increased the load-bearing capacity of the sand and made the tracks run deeper, providing a narrow line that Daniel Sanders to his fifth stage win of the year.

Co-drivers faced a similar challenge in the car race, competing on their very own course and therefore unable to follow the tracks out of the labyrinth. Toyota Gazoo Racing's Lucas Moraes (pictured above), the 27th driver out of the gate, pounced on the opportunity and stormed to victory. It was a fine rebound from the mechanical issues yesterday that dashed the Brazilian's hopes of a podium finish.

Meanwhile, the ferocious battle for the top spot overall raged on between Toyota drivers Henk Lategan and Yazeed Al Rajhi. The South African had another tough day, finishing 15th and seeing his lead over Al Rajhi cut to just 21s.

"There was one canyon where everybody was getting lost," he related. "We were a little bit nervous going in there because you see cars coming from the front and cars coming from all angles out of the mountains. We went all the way out the canyon and then finally found our way. So we hopped from, let's say, seventh or so on the road all the way to first -- and then we were opening for quite a while.

"Then we made one or two small navigation errors. We had a puncture earlier on. So, not a bad day. We're happy to have found that one waypoint, but not the perfect day."

The increasingly consistent Mattias Ekstrom placed second on the stage, 7m41s behind Moraes, and holds third overall, 10m25s off the lead. A fellow Ford M-Sport racer, America's Mitch Guthrie, placed third today and is now fifth overall, behind Dacia's Nasser Al-Attiyah who placed behind him today. Al-Attiyah is 21m57s off the overall lead, with Guthrie 40m01s back.

One biker has been head and shoulders above the rest since the Dakar got under way. Daniel Sanders, picked up his fifth stage win today, in part thanks to his flair and in part thanks to beginning the special in ninth place. He bested Red Bull KTM teammate Edward Canet by 3m36s on the stage.

"It was pretty fast. Technical at the start -- we had a lot of rain," said Sanders. "But it was only at the start, so it was a pretty wet line to see in front and just had us kind of correct and not follow the mistakes with the navigation. The speed was good, head was good, so it was a much better day."

Tosha Schareina, third in the stage and second overall, also benefited from the compact race situation near the end of the special. But he's still 15 minutes off the overall lead.

Unfazed by the challenge of starting in second place today, Adrien Van Beveren skilfully defended his podium spot with the help of a big haul of bonuses for opening the road. The Frenchman is now 26m07s behind Sanders in the ranking, with America's Ricky Brabec in fourth place, 33m19s in arrears.

The winner of the prologue in the Challenger class, America's Corbin Leaverton has had a rough ride since then, but he put his Red Bull Junior Team entry back in the spotlight with a stage win, finishing 24 seconds ahead of Yasir Seaidan. Their tight fight in this special did nothing to trouble the husband-and-wife crew of Nicholas Cavigliasso and Valentina Pertegarini,  who have led the overall since the first stage and now hold a half-hour advantage over Gonçalo Guerreiro.

Another standout performer was Jeremías Gonzalez Ferioli. The former quad rider shone in Dakars run in South America, finishing second in 2015 and third in 2018 and 2019, and nabbed his first special of the year, finishing 51 seconds clear of the runaway SSV leader, Brock Heger. The American's Polaris teammate, Xavier de Soultrait, is still second overall but a massive 1h35m behind after his Stage 4 problems and more assorted delays, and Francisco "Chaleco" Lopez is starting to reel him in. The Chilean is about 20 minutes behind him.