Dakar 2023: Joan Barreda wins his first stage. Sanders eighth

Today’s stage saw riders start and finish in HA’IL. The route covered a total of 573 km, including 425 km of special. In terms of elevation, the athletes never dipped below 1000 metres and climbed as high as 1300 metres. Stage 4 ran on mixed terrain, first on sandy dunes which were followed by roughly 50 km of tarmacked road, while the final stretch largely involved gravel and stony ground.

One new feature this year are the bonuses awarded to those opening the stage, or rather the first three starters. These are calculated between the start of the special stage and km 211. In numerical terms, this amounts to +1’5” per kilometre for the first starter, one minute for the second, and +0.5” for the third. The bonus goes some way to making up for the gap that stage openers face, considering that they have to be more attentive to the road book as they have no tracks to follow.

Today’s winner was Spaniard Joan Barreda, who achieves his first Dakar stage win. Having started fifth, he set the fastest time of 4h28’18”. And he did so after having fractured the distal phalanx on his left big toe during stage two. Behind him, Monster Energy Honda rider Quintanilla, who closed +0.16” and American Howes who finished in 4h29’23”. Having completed each stage with strong results, the American now places second in the general standings.

Price has unfortunately fallen short of expectations, failing to stand out in any of the first five stages. Today he finished fourth, but we expect more from him. In fifth is A. Van Beveren, the surprise of this 2023 Dakar, who completed stage 4 in 4h30’55”.

A complicated stage for the Australian

Daniel Sanders, the current “overall” leader, placed eighth today. Not a great day for the Gas Gas rider although he nevertheless retains a decent lead, still +3.33 from second-placed Howes. Klein suffered problems with the fuel pumping system and closed twelfth, the young American keen to make an impression, if not win, here in Saudi Arabia.

General standings

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