Dakar 2021 Stage 9 | Monster Energy Honda Team’s trio dominate

The ninth special of the 2021 Dakar Rally saw Monster Energy Honda Team riders dominate. Kevin Benavides who finished P5 in stage eight has moved up the order and was at P1 in today’s stage with timing of 04:49:15 hours. Teammate Ricky Brabec finished 01:18 minutes behind while Nacho Cornejo, yesterday's stage winner crossed the line in third, just 01:34 minutes behind the leader.

After the 63km mark, Toby Price and Joan Barreda Bort lost the same amount of time due to a navigation error. While the trio from Monster Energy Honda team, Nacho Cornejo, Ricky Brabec and Kevin Benavides continued to steadily build a lead. Post the 155km mark, Toby Price met with an accident and was airlifted due to injuries on his left arm and shoulder. Kevin's sibling Luciano Benavides unfortunately had a crash at the 242km mark and was airlifted as well to the hospital in Tabuk.

Stage nine concluded with Monster Energy Honda Team riders acquiring three of the top ten positions while in overall rankings Honda is now clearly flexing its muscles with four out of top five positions to its name. Stay tuned for tomorrow's Stage 10 that stretches from Neom to AlUla, where riders will cover 583km out of which 342km will be the special stage.