The first stage of Dakar 2025 went well for Ricky Brabec, who was the second fastest and is in second place overall ahead of the 48-hour stage.
The Monster Energy Honda rider even had a good starting position for the next day. However, he still criticized how the starting order is determined, stating to the official Dakar website:
– This is super unfortunate. I don’t know what they’re doing in this sport, but the person who started first today, unfortunately they’ll start first tomorrow, so they have to open the way two days in a row, and in the most difficult days.
The top ten from yesterday’s prologue were allowed to choose their starting positions for the first stage, unlike the other riders. The riders starting first have the disadvantage of opening the track, losing time, which will happen again for the same riders tomorrow: in fact, Mohammed Balooshi (Fantic) will be the first to take off once again.