Dakar 2026 | Stage Three | AlUla bites back as HRC strikes

Dakar momentum swings on Stage Three as Schareina strikes and Sanders limits the damage

KTM’s early stranglehold on Dakar loosened dramatically on Stage Three, with the brutal AlUla loop flipping the script and handing Honda HRC the upper hand after one of the most demanding navigation days the rally has served up so far.

After Edgar Canet and Daniel Sanders split the opening stage wins and set the early pace, the responsibility of opening the road finally came back to haunt the overall leader. The 736km monster – featuring a savage 421km timed special, the longest yet – punished anyone even slightly off-line, and it was Tosha Schareina who mastered the maze of sandy canyons, plateaus and rock-strewn tracks to claim a statement victory.

“The navigation was really, really tricky,” Schareina said after the stage. “The strategy for today was to win and we did it. But it’s just the beginning… with the marathon we have to take care of tyres, the machine, ourselves.”

Runner-up to Sanders last year, the Spaniard finally returned to the top step with a 2m17s win – his first stage victory since 2024 – and vaulted himself into third overall. It was a reward for pushing hard in terrain where fading lines, constant rhythm changes and rocks everywhere demanded full concentration at speed.

Sanders, fresh off his Stage Two win, had no such luxury. Tasked with opening the way for most of the 421km special, the Aussie was forced into a thinking man’s ride rather than an all-out charge.

“It was definitely a tough stage… probably one of the most demanding navigation days I’ve experienced,” Sanders said. “The pace was a little slower than anticipated, but that made accurate navigation even more important.”

Despite conceding time to the stage winner, Sanders limited the damage superbly. Thanks to over six minutes of bonus time for opening the stage from start to finish, he retained the overall lead, finishing the day 3m28s behind Schareina and keeping his Dakar campaign firmly on track.

The only rider able to shadow Sanders while opening was Ricky Brabec – and the American once again showed why he’s one of Dakar’s masters. Brabec rode himself into second overall, now just 1m07s off the lead.

“I think we kind of started in a good spot, it was far enough back to make a good push,” Brabec explained. “My only goal was to try and catch Daniel and get bonus time… I rode the best I could, had fun, caught Daniel and got some bonus credit.”

Behind the front three, Luciano Benavides and Skyler Howes completed a stacked top five on a day where mistakes were costly and dust made life miserable once riders caught traffic.

Benavides was quick early before paying the price for pushing in the wrong places. “After catching some riders ahead, the dust made things more difficult and I started to make a few small mistakes, including a couple of light crashes,” he said. “The navigation in the second half was very tough if you tried to push.”

Howes, meanwhile, mixed admiration for the scenery with frustration at a costly lapse. “This region is unreal… although the navigation can be really difficult and today there was a lot of that and a lot of rocks,” he said. “I had one mistake out there that I’m still kicking myself about… but otherwise I had a really good stage.”

Edgar Canet, so impressive across the opening days, finally felt the squeeze. An eighth-place finish saw the young KTM rider drop one spot to fourth overall, but simply reaching the finish intact was an achievement in itself.

“It was physically and mentally exhausting,” Canet admitted. “The important thing is that we got through it without any crashes… with the marathon stage coming up, the focus will be on looking after the bike and tyres.”

Honda’s Adrien Van Beveren clawed back ground despite losing almost 13 minutes to teammate Schareina, improving two places overall to eighth after another day where precision mattered more than outright speed.

“I tried my best,” Van Beveren said. “Towards the end I made a small navigation mistake… then I tried to slow my rhythm and navigate perfectly.”

In Rally 2, Michael Docherty continued his dominant run, claiming his third class win in four days and an impressive 10th outright. The South African now leads the R2 standings by 3m32s from Martim Ventura, who endured yet another Dakar baptism of fire.

“Every day I arrive here I say it was the toughest special of my life and today I say it again,” Ventura said after a crash early in the stage. “Dakar is like this… we’ll try to take it easy.”

There was disappointment for Tobias Ebster, whose title hopes appear over after a hand injury from a crash is expected to force his withdrawal, while Aussie David Brock battled through to 96th on the stage and now sits 92nd overall after collecting 16 minutes of penalties.

With the marathon stage looming and riders set to be separated from their mechanics, Stage Three was a timely reminder: Dakar doesn’t care about momentum. It only rewards those who can think, endure – and survive – when the desert turns hostile.