Here are the highlights after the highly demanding 48-hour chrono Stage 6 drew to a close. Just making it through the two days in Empty Quarter is an achievement in itself, whilst for Frenchmen @adrien.vanbeveren and @SebLoebOfficiel they can celebrate as the stage winners in their respective categories. Heading into a well earned rest day it is now Ricky Brabec who leads overall in the Bikes standings and in the Ultimate class the considerable experience of Carlos Sainz has taken him to the top. The action resumes in Riyadh with Stage 7 on Sunday.
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SportTranscription
00:00 [WIND BLOWING]
00:05 Welcome back to your daily digital Dakar diary.
00:08 Here to bring you the Dakar experience, the stories,
00:10 the people, the best clips, and a bit of fun.
00:13 Some of you, after more comprehensive race coverage,
00:15 this isn't the place for you.
00:17 Your local broadcaster has that.
00:18 But for those who want to stay, here we go.
00:20 I found out it was dunes this morning.
00:29 I didn't know it was dunes.
00:31 All dunes, only dunes.
00:33 Mason Klein is a joker.
00:34 The riders have known for months, of course.
00:36 But these two days have been no joke at all for some.
00:38 Did you get the crash on video?
00:40 No.
00:40 Oh.
00:42 Sorry.
00:43 I have to, but I have to finish.
00:46 Yeah, that's exactly how I fix stuff too, Jane.
00:48 Just kick it.
00:49 She wasn't the only one struggling out there.
00:52 I was the first rookie, but that's it.
00:58 Unlike Dusan, Jane did make it to one of the seven overnight
01:01 rest areas, where the remaining competitors were in for a night
01:04 of unglamping.
01:05 I guess we could just say camping.
01:07 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
01:13 I don't want to stay one week.
01:17 We have some chocolate cake for dessert.
01:22 We've got some baked beans with a little bit of desert sand
01:27 for the main dish.
01:29 And we've got some biscuits for starters
01:32 with some strawberry jam.
01:36 Enjoy your meal, then.
01:37 Thank you.
01:38 After a long, hard day, and despite minimal rations,
01:41 no comforts, or internet connection,
01:43 the ambience were jovial, as the riders gathered under the stars
01:46 to sing campfire classics like "Come By Karma, Lord,"
01:49 "Gingang Guli on a Motorbike," "My Bonnet Lies Over the Ocean,"
01:52 and "Thanks to Those Spicy Beans, Ring of Fire."
01:56 Now we have the second part of the current stage.
01:59 Should be a lot nicer and enjoyable than yesterday.
02:02 That was pretty long.
02:03 It wasn't more enjoyable for Mason Klein.
02:05 Despite a push start from Nasser Al-Attiyah,
02:07 he didn't finish.
02:08 After stage two, the American was down and out.
02:10 After three and four, he was out of contention.
02:13 And now he's definitely out-out.
02:15 Maybe you have to wait, Mason.
02:17 Let the battery charge a little bit.
02:21 626K total for the 48-hour Krono is completed today.
02:25 And by 4pm yesterday, 12 bikes had made it as far as Bivouac F,
02:29 which had no showers.
02:30 They made a dirty dozen this morning.
02:33 Overnight, Adrian Van Beveren was in the virtual lead,
02:36 Brabeck and Barreda on his tail.
02:38 Barreda had forged ahead in more ways than one yesterday,
02:41 and with Ross Branch leading, Hero were looking good.
02:43 But today, bang, bang, yet another casualty
02:46 of this brutal terrain.
02:47 That's seven abandons from 14 Dakar starts.
02:50 I guess it's impossible to restart right now.
02:53 So I'm lucky, but just life is like this.
02:59 It looks soft and serene.
03:01 It is anything but.
03:03 One man who's coped exceptionally well
03:04 with everything the empty quarter has thrown at him
03:07 is Adrian Van Beveren.
03:08 He's ridden these dunes beautifully the past three
03:10 days, and his supremacy in the sand
03:12 brought him a fourth Dakar win.
03:14 I knew I could do good here in the dunes.
03:20 I could make a difference.
03:22 The bike is going amazing on those conditions.
03:25 And this is the kind of terrain I feel fast.
03:28 Honda's fifth win from seven race days.
03:30 Domination, perhaps, but Red Bull KTM
03:33 have two riders in the top six.
03:35 And Toby Price is going very nicely indeed.
03:38 He finished second on the stage.
03:39 Back to the Honda's for third place today.
03:47 Ricky Brabeck has four top threes, a fifth and a seventh
03:50 so far.
03:50 He was four minutes down on AVB, but he
03:52 must be giving his rivals sleepless nights.
03:54 Ross Branch has lost his hero teammates,
04:00 but led the Staniers coming into the chrono.
04:02 The Motswana said this is one of the toughest rally
04:04 stages of his life.
04:05 It was super tough.
04:10 And then this morning, the dunes were so soft.
04:12 So it was just a cherry on top for this really hard stage.
04:18 Brabeck this year steady.
04:19 Eddie has already reached the heady heights
04:21 on top of the overall.
04:23 Branch, 51 seconds off the pace.
04:25 Price, 27 minutes back in fifth.
04:27 Bias Ebster leads original by Muttul and is the top rookie.
04:30 Nothing's new for Alexander Giroud in the quads.
04:33 Two wins for him now, three for Medeiros.
04:35 But Manuel Anduka leads overall.
04:37 Like the bikes, after 4 PM, competitors in the car category
04:45 stopped for the night at one of the bivouacs along the route.
04:49 I'm not sure the older drivers were looking forward to it.
04:53 We'll take a look at the car and check that everything's OK.
04:58 And well, after that, we don't have our phones or anything.
05:01 So I guess we'll light a fire and have a chat with the others.
05:04 Alatia and Ekstrom had reached bivouac E, the others C or D,
05:12 which is where Carlos and Guillaume were.
05:14 That was at kilometre 398 of the two-day stage.
05:17 It was tough out there and everyone was taking a well-deserved rest.
05:21 It's true that things really haven't gone our way.
05:28 There are dark hours when everything just falls into place nicely,
05:31 but it felt like the rally was against us this year.
05:34 Seth Quintero said if you paid him a million dollars,
05:37 he wouldn't do yesterday's stage again.
05:43 - Any more games? - Hard for the mecca.
05:46 I woke up this morning...
05:49 It's rough.
05:51 These youngsters don't know their bones, Stefan.
05:54 Aye, Carlos, we used to sleep in tiny tents with great big holes in them.
05:57 Tents? You were lucky. Dakar 88, we slept in brown paper bag on rubbish tip,
06:01 licked desert clean with our tongues and drove 29 hours a day.
06:05 Try and tell the drivers today that, they won't believe you.
06:07 No.
06:08 A close call-out in the dunes for Nasser Alatia with Matthias Ekstrom,
06:12 one of them was going the wrong way, but Alatia drove brilliantly today.
06:16 Until disaster struck.
06:21 We broke this one, you see, it's...
06:28 The upright, just in the small impact, you know, and...
06:33 Yeah, it looked like not strong enough.
06:37 The wheel hub was cracked too, but Alatia still waved a Seb Loeb
06:41 as he literally flew by.
06:43 He was third after 400k and Loeb was with Carlos Sainz on the road now.
06:48 Well, not the road, but you know what I mean.
06:50 Loeb got ahead and stormed through to take victory on stage six.
06:54 That intentional 15-minute loss on stage five meant Loeb's tactics worked
06:58 in terms of a stage win, but we'll have to wait to see the implications a week today.
07:03 Carlos Sainz had the virtual lead of the rally overnight
07:06 and led this double-day chrono almost from start to finish,
07:09 with Yazeed and Nasser losing hours.
07:11 The Spaniard is back in the lead and looks set to win stage six
07:14 until that pesky Frenchman came along.
07:16 I started further back because I was counting on the guys closer to Nasser
07:21 getting caught in traffic. I thought he'd be slower,
07:24 but Nasser did an amazing job opening, and I guess there were some tracks.
07:28 Nobody got too close to him, so in the end, Carlos had the best strategy.
07:32 Ours was perhaps second best.
07:35 We tried to play now for the world champion, you know.
07:40 I will try also to help Seb, you know, and to be behind him.
07:45 At least, you know, he can win this Dakar.
07:48 Wow, what a gent. Nasser helping Seb win a first Dakar.
07:51 What a story that would be.
07:53 Mathias Lange was the first to win the Dakar.
07:57 He was the first to win the Dakar.
07:59 He was the first to win the Dakar.
08:01 What a story that would be.
08:03 Matthias Ekström is the other remaining Audi.
08:07 He lost around five minutes to his teammate Sainz today.
08:10 Geland Schiessuret had another trouble-free run.
08:23 The overdrive racing Hilux, 19th overall yesterday morning, but 10th now.
08:28 He's not Toyota's golden boy, though.
08:30 Lucas Marais is in the mix for consecutive Dakar podiums.
08:34 Nasser's Prodrive Hunter did make it to the end after waiting over an hour for a support truck.
08:43 But his name's not in that top ten, and nor is Peter Hansel.
08:52 In the T3s, Dania Akil is riding home sand, but a race-ending day in the dunes.
08:57 She will keep driving for the experience, though.
08:59 Marik Gottschall, second overall, but not anymore.
09:03 An unprecedented Crono belonging to Erik Gottschall.
09:07 Five stage wins in a single Dakar.
09:09 Some way behind Quintero's record of 12, though.
09:12 Obviously, he leads overall, but he's even in the top ten in the cars.
09:16 There would have been two more Dakars, but there's only one.
09:19 He's even in the top ten in the cars.
09:22 There would have been huge disappointment for Saudi fans when Yazeed Al-Raji crashed out,
09:26 but another local hero has risen to the top of his category, Yasser Saeedan.
09:30 Trucking hell for Yannis Van Kasteren, having won five specials.
09:34 He's no longer in contention.
09:35 More Dutch trucks in trouble, too.
09:38 That left the way open for Martin Maciek to steal the stage and the lead overall
09:43 by over an hour and a quarter.
09:46 It's now or never time to make a choice and ask yourself.
09:52 This Crono had two legs.
09:59 The front runners stretched their legs.
10:00 Some of the favorites need fresh legs and several were on their last legs.
10:04 After a freaking frenetic finale, many idols proved they were frankly fragile.
10:09 But a fabulous Friday for our French friends with five wins.
10:12 We'll see you on Sunday.
10:13 Sunday.
10:15 [BLANK_AUDIO]