It’s a Monster Energy Honda Team one-two-three on stage nine as Van Beveren takes the win

Heading back west to AlUla, the location of the start of this year’s event, stage nine was predicted to be difficult but the Monster Energy Honda Team made light work of the swathes of sand and rocky terrain across the 417 km special with a clean sweep of the stage podium.

Despite his initial frustration yesterday at having to be third off the line today, Van Beveren’s start position didn’t seem to faze him as he quickly dispatched stage opener Kevin Benavides and then be first on the road for almost 400 km to the finish.  Although having to slow towards the end to find the correct route, his reward was a sizeable chunk in bonuses of over five and a half minutes which today put him ahead of Brabec who had achieved the best time of the stage. 

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In what could prove to be a decisive day for the Frenchman, he has now moved up the standings to third with just over eleven minutes to claw back to the leader as the constant battle with teammate José Ignacio Cornejo for that final podium position continues.

Ricky Brabec played today to perfection, by keeping his main rival Ross Branch close yesterday the Californian was on the attack on the rolling dunes to finish behind Van Beveren and stretch his lead overall by seven minutes in what could be the turning point at this year’s Dakar.

As the ancient sites of AlUla welcomed the riders again at the end of a long day, Pablo Quintanilla made a return to the stage podium in what was a much better day for the Chilean rider.  Although not in the overall reckoning he can now focus on accumulating points for the World Rally-Raid Championship title and help Brabec and Van Beveren when they open the stage tomorrow.

Nacho Cornejo got disorientated on the route before the refuelling point which knocked his podium chances to lose him ten minutes on the stage to Van Beveren.  His seventh place finish has increased the gap to nearly fourteen minutes off Brabec as he’ll hope to capitalise on any mistakes made tomorrow by his fellow competitors.

With the Monster Energy Honda Team picking up the prologue and now six stage wins, the fight continues heading into stage ten tomorrow on a rocky loop around AlUla.  The 371 km special stage will need riders to keep their wits about them as the famous rocky backdrops will look to catch them out with a technical route that could throw them off course.

RallyGP Results – Stage 9 

RallyGP Provisional Standings after Stage 9