Despite the fact that Daniel Sanders failed to repeat yesterday's success and, in the eighth stage of the Dakar 2025 (which took the caravan from Al Duwadimi to Riyadh for a total of 483 kilometers) he had to settle for a 7th place. It now seems to be a done deal for him, solidly leading, overall. With five special wins, including the prologue, KTM's Australian seems unassailable, even if the Spaniard, Tosha Schareina, doesn't let up and finished 3rd, even if he crossed the finish line first with a 30-minute lead.
It was the race direction that decided to credit the half-hour disadvantage to Luciano Benavides, officially the winner, and Adrien Van Beveren, who stopped at km 133 to help Pablo Quintanilla after he fell and hurt his shoulder, leading him to retire.
This was also a stage to forget for Lorenzo Santolino. He was first on the third day of racing but today he had electrical problems that cost him the top 10, overall.
Hodists Ricky Brabec and Skyler Howes came in 4th and 5th, respectively, while Michael Docherty on the KTM finished 8th. The Iberian, Edgar Canet, made his Raid debut riding a KTM, and spent much of the PS in the company of Schareina, and especially Sanders who, after an initial full throttle phase, slowed down to avoid proceeding solo and risking navigational problems, while still getting the most out of every opportunity for a bonus.
José Ignacio Cornejo's Hero came in 9th, folowed at 14'13" by Rui Gonçalves' Sherco. The best of the Italians turned out to be Paolo Lucci on Honda, 28th. Tommaso Montanari was 41st on a Fantic.
Dakar stage 8 rankings:
Dakar 2025 overall rankings after stage 8: