Ross Branch relinquished the lead of the Dakar 2024 in the 48-hour stage that ended this Friday. The Hero MotoSports rider, who was also left without teammates after Joan Barreda’s withdrawal, finished fifth in the stage and is now second in the overall standings, 51 seconds behind Ricky Brabec (Hero MotoSports).
This was a stage that promised great difficulties, and the Botswana rider confirmed to the official Dakar website that these difficulties were felt:
–It was probably one of the toughest rally stages I have ever done in my life. Yesterday we did 530km, it was super tough, and then this morning the dunes were so soft, so that was just the icing on the cake for this very tough stage. But we are here in one piece and we kept the bike intact, which was the main goal, so we can fight next week.
