The first contests on this year’s edition of the Dakar took place at the gateway to the city of Bisha, on a terrain with a sequence of sandy tracks. Over 29 kilometres without navigation difficulties, the riders most comfortable with slaloming between the bushes took command of the race. The landscape no doubt reminded Australian Daniel Sanders of the expanses of bushland in his home country where he honed his riding skills.
Daniel Sanders is used to making a mark at the beginning of the Dakar and won today’s prologue just like in 2022. The winner of the Rallye du Maroc finished 12’’ ahead of W2RC 2024 winner Ross Branch, as well as the rally’s most prominent debutant, Spaniard Edgar Canet who, at the tender age of 19 years, dominated the day’s Rally 2 rankings and even outdid some more experienced Rally GP riders.
The FIM rules for the 4th season of the W2RC open the doors of the championship to bikers from all over the world. From now on, any rider enrolled in the Rally 2 class on a leg of the calendar can score points and appear in the rankings. Edgar Canet, who arrived on the scene midway through 2024 on the 3rd leg in Portugal, could become one of the leading protagonists of the season. He is also the first official rider to join the category. With the switch to Rally GP of title holder Bradley Cox, the die-hards in the class Michael Docherty and Tobias Ebster displayed their intentions to make their performances count this year by climbing onto the day’s podium. Like Canet, Jacob Argubright has also sensationally emerged, into 4th place in the Rally 2 rankings with the leading Honda, the new motorbike for the brand's customers, for which the American has been development rider since the Dakar 2024.
The Rally 2 category immediately lost its title holder Harith Noah when the Sherco rider fell, fractured his wrist and was forced into a premature exit from the race. The first competitor to suffer misfortune on the Dakar was one of the leading lights last year, because Harith Noah won the Rally 2 category and finished 11th in the motorbike general rankings. This encouraged ambitions of a top 10 finish for the Indian rider, but he fell and fractured his wrist on today’s prologue. Since his injury requires minor surgery, Noah has been forced into a premature exit from the race for the fourth time in his career on the Dakar, depriving Sherco of one of its hopes for the 2025 edition. However, the French team can still count on two Rally GP riders, namely Spaniard Lorenzo Santolino and Portuguese rider Rui Gonçalves, both of whom are in the reckoning to battle with the elite.