Travelling south from Bisha, the air gets thinner and thinner as the road approaches 1,300 metres. The drop in oxygen levels is barely noticeable, but the landscape is no longer the same. Near the middle of the special, the entrants had their work cut out for them exploring the canyons and powering their way up rock-strewn sandy plateaus! The 412 km stage was a test of concentration and sand-surfing skills and, once again, no-one was able to match the rock-solid Daniel "Chucky" Sanders.
The Australian is giving an encore of his performance in the 2022 Dakar, where he also won the first two stages. He put clear daylight between himself and the competition, pushing his closest rival in the stage, Ricky Brabec, more than two minutes down. A whopping 25 minutes now separate the leader from the tenth-placed rider!
Daniel Sanders has learnt not to go berserk. Three years ago, the man from Down Under also began the Dakar in with a spectacular one-two punch, only to crash out of the race in a road section after the rest day. "Chucky" has since gained plenty of experience, as he proved by claiming the Rallye du Maroc a few months ago. Biker no. 4 danced around the bushes and was one of the few entrants to reach the finish unscathed. The KTM rider has built up a cushion of 2′22″ over Ricky Brabec in the prologue and stage 1. More importantly, in contrast with the FIA rules, which encouraged the favourites to engage in a bit of sandbagging, the 48 h chrono stage regulations stipulate that the Rally GP riders will start tomorrow in reverse order of their results today. In other words, the hot seat was the best seat… and could end up morphing into a throne!
Ross Branch put in a solid ride to take third in the stage and the overall, but he was dismayed to learn at the finish that his Hero teammate Sebastian Bühler had exited the race after crashing and injuring his shoulder 68 kilometres into the special.