The confirmation was missing, and now it has arrived: Ross Branch won the first stage of the Dakar 2024, which took place this Saturday. There were 414km timed between Al’Ula and Al Henakiyah.
The Hero MotoSports rider had a dominant performance, leading the intermediate points from early on. However, he had to stop to assist Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy Honda) at kilometer 270 and, from there, Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy Honda) set the pace.
Branch remained solid, despite the lost time, and finished in 16th place. According to the rules, the Botswana rider recovered the time lost assisting Schareina – 25 minutes – and thus ended up as the winner. Brabec was second, 10m54s behind, which means that Branch is also the new leader of the classification with an 11m54s advantage over the American.
Mason Klein surprised in the Kove of Korr Offroad Racing and achieved the third fastest time, also placing third overall. Bradley Cox (BAS World KTM Racing Team) and José Ignacio Cornejo (Monster Energy Honda) completed the top five of the stage – and also of the general classification, but in inverted positions with Cornejo in fourth and Cox in fifth. Last year’s winner, Kevin Benavides (Red Bull KTM), finished eighth in this stage and is in the same position in the overall classification, 16m14s behind the top.
Top ten of Stage 2:
