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Five Best Stories From Week One At The 2026 Dakar Rally In Saudi Arabia

Harry Bright by Harry Bright
January 10, 2026
in Motorsports
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
Five Best Stories From Week One At The 2026 Dakar Rally In Saudi Arabia

Guillaume de Mevius (BEL) and Mathieu Baumel (FRA) of X-Raid Mini JCW compete during Stage 5 of the 2026 Dakar Rally, between Bivouac Refuge and Haïl, Saudi Arabia on January 8, 2026. // Marcelo Maragni / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202601080411 // Usage for editorial use only //

Saturday marks the only rest day at the 2026 Dakar Rally with the convoy exploring Saudi Arabia’s capital city Riyadh after a gruelling first week of action that saw some favourites shine, youngsters make their mark and debutants adapt to the chaos of the race. Here is all you need to know:

– Co-driver Mathieu Baumel is taking on the 2026 Dakar Rally just under a year after a shocking accident that required his right leg to be amputated and his determination to return so quickly to rally-raid racing has inspired Belgian driver Guillaume De Mévius in a rollercoaster first week so far.

– After winning the Dakar Rally four times alongside Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah, Frenchman Baumel was hit by a car on January 29th, 2025 whilst helping the passengers of a broken-down vehicle, which forced doctors into placing him into an induced coma and resulted in the amputation of his right leg.

– He was determined to return to racing and he took to the start line with De Mévius, the duo winning Sunday’s Stage One to place third overall after Monday’s Stage Two and, even though they suffered a big setback by losing over two hours on Tuesday over jagged rocks, they have kept going in inspirational fashion.

– In terms of adapting to his prosthetic leg when it comes to tyre changes in the desert, 49-year-old Baumel revealed: “I have my prosthetic on the side, and I can remove the bottom part of my knee and the feet. I go out of the car with one leg, and I take my prosthetic and put it on the second part, then I can walk around, and I start to do more or less like always. Of course, Guillaume is helping.”

– De Mévius, 31, added: “It is amazing the support we have got for Mathieu, for the team overall and the project. It was an amazing feeling to win the stage and have everyone follow us, but now we are fighting for something else.”

– Another early success story was young Spanish biker Edgar Canet, who blazed a trail through the opening three days. The Catalan, fresh off winning the Rally2 bike class last year, jumped up to the elite RallyGP Bike class and promptly won Saturday’s Prologue and then followed up with Sunday’s Stage One as well.

– Second place on Monday left him just 30 seconds behind reigning champion Daniel Sanders, however the desert’s unforgiving terrain hit back to leave him nearly 11 hours back in 59th place heading into the rest day. The 20-year-old revealed: “The rocks destroy your hands and your head.”

– Elsewhere, home driver Dania Akeel experienced the highs and lows of Dakar competition on her local terrain as she finished the first week 11th overall in the Challenger class. The gutsy 37-year-old from Jeddah banked four podium finishes including second on Friday to propel her into week two.

– Eight-time World Rallycross champion Johan Kristoffersson managed to overcome overturning his SSV vehicle in the opening Prologue to place 11th – 3h23m40s behind the leader.

– The Swede lost 32m13s alone on the first day of action, however his mechanics got him running again on Sunday and he held his nerve throughout the week to improve his chances of a top-10 race finish.

– The 37-year-old said: “I was worried that my first Dakar would be like jumping from a plane without a parachute, but I’ve had so much support. Ahead of the second week, I’m feeling surprisingly fresh.”

– The best storyline for some has been the return of ‘Monsieur Dakar’, Stéphane Peterhansel. The French legend still has a shot at winning his 15th Dakar title after clawing back Defender Dakar D7X‑R teammate Rokas Baciuška’s overall Stock lead to 44m43s heading into the second week – including two stage wins.

– The 60-year-old revealed: “When you start a new program to bring a car to the Dakar, it’s always complicated. We did 6,000 kilometres of testing before this rally, but still you have some apprehension at the start. Things have been running well for us.”

Tags: dakar-en
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