After a gruelling twelve-hour stint on the bike covering yesterday’s 800km (500 mile) stage, North Yorkshire’s Robbie Wallace was back in action at daybreak today for the seventh stage of the 2025 Dakar Rally which took riders in a circular route around the central Saudia Arabian location of Al Duwadimi.
The 27-year-old electrical engineer from Northallerton had to overcome some minor mechanical issues on the X Raids Experience TCC Plant-sponsored 450cc KTM as well as suffering from fatigue and rain for the first time but still managed to get to the finish of the 709 km (440 mile) stage, taking 54th position overall.
The distance travelled this weekend alone by Robbie is the equivalent of riding from Northallerton to London and back – TWICE – and the total distance covered by him on the event so far is over 3,000 miles.
As a result, Robbie continues to claw back the time loss he suffered due to penalties incurred when he was forced to miss a couple of stages following his crash last Wednesday which saw him sustain concussion.
After today’s mere six hours on the bike which concluded the seventh of 12 stages, he has improved to 91st overall and now lies 78th in the Rally2 class and 21st Rookie.
Robbie Wallace: “Today was tough but at least it’s another stage polished off. I had a few mechanical issues to contend with today with a fuel valve issue which worried me as I didn’t know how much fuel I had left. I also found myself becoming very tired mentally also. I didn’t sleep much last night and that had a large knock-on effect in today’s stage which was probably due to yesterday’s mega stage over 800km, the navigation in the dark and being on the bike for over 12 hours. I couldn’t concentrate like normal on the faster stuff, but I had a relatively calm day in terms of pace and tried to regulate myself as best I could to avoid any mistakes in this final week. The long liaison sections also take it out of you as you are sat on the bike with it buzzing away for a few hours extra. Tomorrow is a similar day to today and once I get through that, the finish line creeps ever closer.”
Monday’s stage comprises a distance of 733km (455 miles) from the bivouac at Al Duwadimi and finishes in the capital city of Riyadh.
Results after Stage 7 – Al Duwadimi to Al Duwadimi
Position on Stage: 54th
Overall Position: 91st
Rally2 Position: 78th
Rookie Position: 21st
Overall Time: 124h 07′ 58”
Total Penalties: 58h 05’ 00”
Time Behind Leader: 84h 38′ 36”
Distance Covered: 4,991 km
Distance To Go: 2,267 km
SAND SNIPPETS
- Australian rider Daniel Sanders (KTM) took his fifth stage win of the event and as a result has increased his lead to 15 minutes and 33 seconds over the Honda of Tosha Schareina: “It was very fast and we had a lot of rain, but only at the start, so it was a pretty wet line”. Adrien Van Beveren (Honda) continues to hold third place, 26 minutes and 7 seconds behind Sanders with defending champion Ricky Brabec (Honda) in fourth having dropped ten minutes meaning his overall deficit behind the leader is now 33 minutes and 19 seconds.
- Despite a valiant effort by fellow Kove rider James Hillier to tow him through the sand dunes which was captured on video, Mason Klein was unable to repair his bike and has had to withdraw from the rally.
Pictures attached courtesy of EdoPhoto, higher resolution versions and a selection of others are available upon request.
More updates as the event progresses and further details at www.dakar.com.
Notes to Editors
The 47th edition of the Dakar will see around 140 motorcycle competitors, as well as hundreds of car, buggy and truck drivers from all over the world converge on Bisha in the south west of Saudi Arabia starting with technical checks and administration on January 1st/2nd 2025 and then the Prologue on January 3rd 2025 before the competition starts in earnest the following day. There then follows a mighty 950km stage over two days on varied terrain, with competitors required to camp out overnight in the desert in a bivouac. At least five stages of the 2025 Dakar will take place on separate courses for safety purposes to reduce the danger of cars and trucks overtaking bikes, and another feature of the 2025 event is riders will have to service their own bikes for up to 800km on a couple of days. After 14 days incorporating 12 stages, Shubaytah, in the eastern part of the country and near the Abu Dhabi border, will welcome the weary finishers.
ENDS
