Daniel Sanders has made an impressive start in his bid to become the first Australian to successfully defend a Dakar Rally title -- but his limelight was stolen on the opening day in the Saudi Arabian desert by a history-making young teammate.
The 2025 champion Sanders, seeking to be the first back-to-back motorcycle winner in the great race for 11 years, finished second in the prologue in Yanbu on Saturday, but was stunned by the opening win being snapped up by his youthful Red Bull KTM colleague Edgar Canet.
The 20-year-old Spaniard, competing in his very first Dakar, could hardly credit his dream start as he won the short opener in 11 minutes 31.9 seconds to pip the Victorian world champ Sanders (11:34.1) and become the youngest ever winner of a motorbike stage in the race's history.
"I was super fast and super happy with this feeling. It's the best way to start the rally," beamed the youngster after the Austrian-based Red Bull KTM factory team celebrated having three of the first four riders, with Argentine Luciano Benavides lying fourth, just 11 seconds adrift.
American two-time winner Ricky Brabec, on his Monster Energy Honda, split the KTMs by finishing third, only five seconds behind Canet.
The 31-year-old Sanders, the dominant force in rally raids last year with four victories in his five world championship races, was perfectly happy with his outing which has earned him the chance to enjoy a good starting position in Sunday's 305km first stage around Yanbu.
"Happy to be here at the start line and get the prologue done," said the man from Three Bridges.
"It was a lot faster than expected, but not so technical, so it was hard to make up time. It was full gas the whole time, so there were really close times but It's good to get that out of the way and get into a stage tomorrow."
In the cars race, Swede Mattias Ekstrom took the opening honours in a Ford Raptor, with Australian former bike champion Toby Price, now teaming up in a four-wheel Toyota with Spaniard Armand Monleon, finishing 16th.
