Adrien van Beveren came close to winning the fifth stage of the Dakar 2025. The Monster Energy Honda rider posted the fastest time in the 428km special between Al’Ula and Ha’il, but a two-minute penalty relegated him to second place, 47 seconds behind Luciano Benavides (Red Bull KTM).
Speaking to the official event website, the Frenchman described a challenging route in terms of navigation: ‘I made some small mistakes but in such a maze it was difficult for everybody to navigate. You had to be accurate and it wasn’t easy’.
After a few tough days, van Beveren adopted a straightforward approach for this stage: ‘Today wasn’t about strategy for me, I just wanted to enjoy myself and I was able to’.
Heading into the rest day, van Beveren sits in fourth place overall in the Dakar standings. He is 18m21s behind the leader, Daniel Sanders (Red Bull KTM), and less than a minute away from the podium.
