Photo: dakar.com
Juan Barreda Bort was the fastest rider in Stage 3, having found a good pace and catching up with the road opener, Toby Price, even from the early phase. Still, the stage victory did not belong to the Spaniard, as a one-minute penalty put local rider Kevin Benavides in front.
Benavides is a rookie, but showed a very good pace astride his Honda South America Rally team bike, and he was able to keep up with the more experienced riders.
With Stage 3 being a fast, rally-raid-like one, the gaps at the finish line were small, and this caused Barred Bort to drop to the fifth place. The penalty was imposed for speeding on liaison sectors. Benavides was followed by Honda's Goncalves, and rookie Antoine Meo and Stefan Svitko aboard KTM machinery.
Toby Price, the winner of the previous stage, could not take advantage of being the first bike to start, and he now sits in the 9th position in the overall standings. The Stage 3 top ten was rounded up by Van Beveren on a Yamaha, Farres Guell on KTM, Husqvarna's Quintanilla, trailed by Sherco's Duclos and KTM's Walkner.
Another surprising presence in the front pack is that of Romanian Emanuel "Mani" Gyenes. Gyenes is a two-time winner of the Marathon class in 2011 and 2015, finishing the Dakar 17th and 21st, respectively.
This year, he also stepped up from the Marathon class to the Super Production one and is now riding a KTM Rally Replica bike. The superior machine seems to echo in his performance, and he is definitely one of the riders to watch this year.
Today's route is a Marathon loop around Jujuy, with no mechanic support. Stage 4 includes a 200 km (124-mile) liaison and a hard 419 km (260-mile) special stage.
With Stage 3 being a fast, rally-raid-like one, the gaps at the finish line were small, and this caused Barred Bort to drop to the fifth place. The penalty was imposed for speeding on liaison sectors. Benavides was followed by Honda's Goncalves, and rookie Antoine Meo and Stefan Svitko aboard KTM machinery.
Toby Price, the winner of the previous stage, could not take advantage of being the first bike to start, and he now sits in the 9th position in the overall standings. The Stage 3 top ten was rounded up by Van Beveren on a Yamaha, Farres Guell on KTM, Husqvarna's Quintanilla, trailed by Sherco's Duclos and KTM's Walkner.
Laia Sanz is catching up while Romanian Gyenes is making strong progress as well
Laia Sanz, the best-ever Dakar female rider, upped her pace aboard the KTM Racing team bike and crossed the Stage 3 finish line in the 18th position. She appears to find her own rhythm in these opening stages, and we can expect her to improve her ranking later on.Another surprising presence in the front pack is that of Romanian Emanuel "Mani" Gyenes. Gyenes is a two-time winner of the Marathon class in 2011 and 2015, finishing the Dakar 17th and 21st, respectively.
This year, he also stepped up from the Marathon class to the Super Production one and is now riding a KTM Rally Replica bike. The superior machine seems to echo in his performance, and he is definitely one of the riders to watch this year.
Today's route is a Marathon loop around Jujuy, with no mechanic support. Stage 4 includes a 200 km (124-mile) liaison and a hard 419 km (260-mile) special stage.
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