This time last year, Three Bridges resident Daniel Sanders was cruising along in his second Dakar Rally, only days away from a massive crash that would rule him out.
In 2023, we all have our fingers crossed that he can continue smoothly, right now sitting first overall with a three minute, 33-second lead over Skyler Howes.
The fourth day of racing on 4 January in Saudi Arabia saw Sanders open the 425km stage for the bikes and by the time he reached the finish line he had leapt from second overall to first place. The GASGAS rider’s roadbook reading skills were tested by a track that had been drastically altered by the previous night’s heavy rainfall.
“I haven’t really done any opening with roadbooks since the last Dakar. It was really tricky navigation. The rain last night washed away a lot of the tracks,” he said.
In his 2021 Dakar debut, Sanders finished in fourth place overall and was the highest-placed rookie in the contest.
