Robbie Wallace not only survived the first of the daunting two-day Marathon stages on the 2026 Dakar Rally which concluded today, but he has held his position in 34th place overall and 23rd in class after another punishing 257 miles of competition.
Fresh from his overnight stay in a tent in the remote Saudi Arabian desert where he managed a reasonable night’s rest at the bivouac refuge with his fellow competitors, following a basic ration pack meal and some minor fettling of his XRaids-supported KTM 450, the 28-year-old electrical engineer from Northallerton arrived in the northern most point of the two-week event at Hail in 38th position and 29th in the Rally 2 class on today’s stage.
Robbie reported that he’d managed to preserve his rear tyre over the two days which was a major concern and apart from missing a waypoint marker, for which he was penalised around 15 minutes, and a small hole in his exhaust, he’d had a fairly trouble-free run over the 588 mile test (947km) over the two days.
With the relative luxury of a decent meal and a more comfortable tent this evening, all eyes turn to tomorrow’s mammoth stage which means an ultra-early start before the longest stage of the event totals 366 miles (589km) in the notorious sand dunes of the Qassim region, before a 206 mile (331km) non-competitive journey to the capital Riyadh and a well-deserved rest day on Saturday.
Robbie Wallace: “I got to the refuge early and it was quite relaxing to sit around the fire with the other competitors. I can’t say I enjoyed the tiny ration pack though, but I had a good sleep and woke up in good spirits. I had to pack my tent away as I need to use it on the next marathon stage next week hopefully. I set out for a fairly long day which was going well and I caught some riders who I needed to get past but then made a mistake and missed a waypoint marker. I worked out I’d lose more time if I went back so I decided to press on and take the penalty. I’m glad I did as I had fairly clear vision for the rest of the stage. I really enjoyed it actually, it was fairly flat and really fast and just the sort of stage I like as it suits my riding, but I’m glad to finish those couple of tough days. My tyre was fine and apart from a small hole in the exhaust which we’ll get fixed tonight, we’re good to go again tomorrow. That will be the longest day of the rally with a very early start and over 570 miles of riding, most of which is in the sand dunes which are not my favourite so I’ll be glad to get to Riyadh tomorrow night and have a day off on Saturday.”
Benavides Wins In Hail
Argentinian Luciano Benavides took the victory on today’s fifth stage to move up to third in the overall standings. The 2023 world champion brought his Red Bull Factory Racing KTM home 5’ 55” ahead of teammate Daniel Sanders in third place, but it was ‘Chucky’ who regained the overall lead, 2’02” ahead of Monster Energy Honda HRC’s Ricky Brabec. Sanders will lead the field away before daybreak tomorrow for the stage made up mainly of his favoured sand dunes.
Nacho Cornejo took second place today on his Hero, 3’51” behind Benavides, while Bradley Cox (Sherco) finished in fourth place on 7’22”.
For KTM, the spectacular start enjoyed by Edgar Canet is a distant memory after the problems today, beginning with the foam melting on his rear wheel. The Spaniard is now over ten hours behind the leader in 66th place overall.
Fellow Spaniard Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy Honda HRC) held his own on the tracks today but received a ten-minute penalty for a bivouac transgression meaning he’s now down to fourth and just under 12 minutes behind leader Sanders.
Adrien Van Beveren (Honda) continues to experience difficulties on this year’s event and lost more than half an hour, partially due to a wire that got stuck in his wheel, whilst Ross Branch (Hero) also had a tough day and is now far off the summit of the overall rankings, 1 hour and 23 minutes behind Sanders.
Despite problems on the Prologue and SS3, Neels Theric (Kove) has turned things around to lead Rally 2 after a second successive stage victory. The Frenchman leads Pole Konrad Dabrowski (KTM) by 20’18” after problems have hit fancied runners Harith Noah, Mike Docherty Martim Ventura and Mathieu Dovèze.
Results after SS5 – Alula – Hail (Marathon)
Overall Position: 34th (out of 100 remaining)
Rally 2 Position: 23rd (out of 89 remaining)
British Rider: No. 1 (out of 4 remaining)
Overall Time: 26h 37′ 20”
Time Behind Leader: 05h 39’10”
Distance Covered: 2809 km
Distance To Go: 5087 km
SAND SNIPPETS
- TNT Sports is continuing to show nightly coverage in the UK with another one-hour highlights package scheduled for this evening at 21.00 on TNT Sports 3.
More updates as the event progresses and via the links below.
https://www.dakar.com/
https://www.facebook.com/dakar
https://x.com/dakar
https://www.dailymotion.com/Dakar
https://www.instagram.com/dakarrally
https://www.tiktok.com/@dakar
Notes to Editors.
The 48th edition of the Dakar Rally will see around 780 competitors from all over the world, including 115 in the motorcycle category, converge on Yanbu on the shores of the Red Sea in western Saudi Arabia. 2026 sees a significantly reworked route offering competitors a fresh challenge across Saudi Arabia’s vast deserts. The 2026 Dakar Rally will feature 13 full stages, plus the traditional Prologue to commence proceedings on January 3 that will help determine the starting order for the first full day of action. The rally will be split by a rest day in the capital Riyadh on Saturday 10 January, allowing competitors some vital recovery time before the decisive second week. Bike competitors will cover 7,896 kilometres over two weeks, including 4,826km in the form of competitive special stages, with the remainder made up of transport sections. With nearly 5,000km of timed running, the 2026 edition will be one of the longest Dakars in terms of competitive distance, making it potentially one of the toughest events in the rally’s recent history. The finish is scheduled for Saturday 17 January 2026 with the final stage around Yanbu.
ENDS
