Dakar 2024 Stage 1 Recap
Story: Noel Flatters | Editor - Enduro.Media
January 6th, 2023
Ross Branch (Hero Motosports Team Rally) took a dominating Stage 1 win.
Image Credit: A.S.O./F.Le Floc'h/DPPI
Stage 1 of Dakar 2024 was the first real test for the riders, and it delivered in every way. Ross Branch (Botswana - Hero Motosports Team Rally) took a dominating stage win, and we saw yesterday’s prologue winner Tosha Schareina (Spain - Monster Energy Honda Team) abandon the race with a broken wrist.
The Bottom Line Up Front
Stage 1 featured 405kms of racing over a total distance of 532kms across rocky terrain in a new area for the Dakar in Saudi Arabia.
Ross Branch took the stage with a dominating +10’54 gap to second-place Ricky Brabec (USA - Monster Energy Honda Team) and a +11’19 gap over third place Mason Klein (USA - Korr Offroad Racing). Branch now leads the race by 11’54 over Brabec and 11’58 over Klein.
Klein opened today’s stage after electing the spot in yesterday evening’s start position draw. Klein took full advantage of this risky move by gaining over six minutes of bonus time on what was, remarkably, only his third time riding his Kove 450 Rally.
It was interesting to see two of the ‘secondary’ bike brands show strongly with P1 and P3 on the day. It’s early yet, but if the Hero team and Mason Klein keep performing like this it will be a great result for these Indian and Chinese bikes.
Dakar 2024 Stage 1 Route
Image courtesy Dakar 2024/ASO
Dakar 2024 Stage 1 Profile
Image courtesy Dakar 2024/ASO
The Stage 1 story
Today’s first stage of Dakar 2024 delivered in all respects. Covering a total of 414kms of racing out of 541kms of riding, we saw a dominating performance by Ross Branch to take the stage win over Americans Ricky Brabec and Mason Klein. We also saw the abandonment of prologue winner Tosha Schareina who broke a wrist near KM 242 after attempting a pass on Toby Price. “I caught something in the rear wheel. It was actually quite a slow section and there was no real danger, but I was a bit behind in the dust and crashed. It was really bad luck that I hit my wrist and broke it, but now we’re out.”
Branch’s stage win will go down as one of the classy ones in Dakar history. Branch came across Schareina out on track after the crash and stopped to help until medics arrived. Organizsers rightly gave his stopped time back to him and he continued to pour it on to take his huge victory on the day. “It was a really tough day. I think they threw everything they had at us. Racing’s not everything, so when you see a rider on the floor it’s important to stop and stay with them until the medics arrive. Then whatever happens with the time happens with the time. Even starting further back the navigation was tough, but I enjoyed it. The first 400k, the first proper stage under the belt and I’m feeling good for tomorrow.”
Mason Klein finished an impressive P3 after opening the stage and riding his new Kove 450 Rally for just the third time.
Image Credit: A.S.O./F.Le Floc'h/DPPI
Mason Klein made a bold move ahead of the stage by electing to open it at the start draw yesterday evening. It was an interesting, but perhaps not entirely unexpected, decision by the young American rider after his P10 prologue finish. Klein has always positioned himself as being more of a navigation expert than a pure speed rider, and he gambled on himself and his navigation skills to chase time bonuses out on the stage ahead of the field. Added to this, Stage 1 featured primarily rocky terrain that plays to Klein’s skills developed in the rocky deserts of Utah and the southwest United States where he’s from. He freely admits that his Kove bike doesn’t have the same top-end speed as many of the factory bikes in the field, so on a fast stage like this he needed to find every possible time advantage. The gamble ended up paying off, despite some regrets he was starting to feel after electing to open things up: “I chose to start first and then I thought about what I did after, like as I was laying in bed, I was kind of realising what I did and I was thinking ‘Oh, maybe I should’ve at least gone behind Skyler (Howes - Monster Energy Honda). But anyways, like I said before, the idea of opening the first stage at Dakar is really cool So, in the end, no regrets because now I can say I’ve done it. It was a really fast track, too, though, and with the headwind I never knew if I was underpowered or was just like being stopped. Just to stay on the bike and finish every day is probably the most important part. And if a good result comes, then I’d be really happy because that’s obviously what I want. So yeah, trying to keep the stress out of my life!”
Ricky Brabec on his way to P2 in the first stage of Dakar 2024.
Image Credit: A.S.O./F.Le Floc'h/DPPI
Ricky Brabec had a terrific P2 ride on this technical, fast and rocky stage. “Today was tough. Yesterday in the briefing they said it’d be physically demanding and they were right for sure. The result today is good. It was definitely a tough day and the bike didn’t touch the ground. We got to the finish and that was goal number one. Goal number two was… I didn’t even have a goal number two.”
Rally 2 rider Romain Dumontier finished an exceptionally strong P6 overall on the day.
Image Credit: A.S.O./F.Le Floc'h/DPPI
Romain Dumontier, the reigning Dakar and W2RC champion in Rally 2, had what was likely the ride of the day with a P6 overall finish and the Rally 2 win. “We were told there would be stones and that’s exactly what we got. I was cautious and spent the whole day alone, overtaking a few riders here and there. I saw several riders hit the ground this morning. I eased up towards the finish as I saw the dust kicked up by the riders in front and reckoned they were sandbagging to avoid having to start up front tomorrow. I took it easy and still finished high up. Not bad! I wasn’t a kamikaze out there.”