Setback for Pablo Quintanilla and Joan Barreda. The riders who had finished the third stage of the Dakar in first and second were penalized, and thus Kevin Benavides inherited the victory.
The Chilean from Monster Energy Honda was the fastest for much of the stage, but suffered a six-minute penalty. The causes have not yet been officially communicated. With this added time, Quintanilla dropped to seventh place in the stage. But he wasn’t the only one penalized.
Barreda (Hero MotoSports), who had finished second, was penalized by 12 minutes and dropped to 15th. With all of this, Benavides (Red Bull KTM) inherited the victory, beating Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy Honda) by 1m11s. The American was penalized by one minute, as was Ross Branch (Hero MotoSports) who finished fifth.
In the overall classification, there are some changes as a result of these penalties. Branch continues to lead, but only 3m11s ahead of José Ignacio Cornejo (Monster Energy Honda). Barreda dropped from eighth to 12th, which is the most significant change. Toby Price (Red Bull KTM) saw time restored, as he moved up to seventh in the latest update, while at the end of the stage he was not in the top ten of the classification.
Top ten of Stage 3:
Top ten overall:
