On Saturday 11 January, Sanders’ Dakar charge continued with a steady performance in Stage Six.
Sander’s day started with the positive news that the speed pealties placed on him were overturned, extending his overall lead to over 15 minutes.
Sanders said in a post on his Facebook page that Stage Six was a long day of 605km of special with all types of terrain.
“I placed 9th today, 5 minutes behind the fastest time of the day which will put me in a good starting spot for tomorrow,”
“I still hold the virtual lead by 11 minutes. Keen to start back for stage 7 tomorrow and make up some time!”
In Stage Seven, Sanders ramped things up again to take his fifth stage win of this Dakar Rally, mirroring the achievement of KTM teammate Toby Price when he went on to win in 2016.
Sanders finished the stage three minutes and 36 seconds ahead of Edgar Canet and with an overall lead of 15 minutes and 33 seconds over Tosha Schareina.
In an interview following the stage, Sanders said it was pretty fast, very fast.
“Technical at the start, we had a lot of rain. But it was only at the start, so it was a pretty wet line to see in front and just had us kind of correct and not follow the mistakes with the navigation,” he said.
“The speed was good, head was good, so it was a much better day.”
