2023 Dakar Rally | Stage Two Highlights & Results

January 2, 2023

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2023 DAKAR RALLY | COMPLETE COVERAGE

PHOTOS | Dakar

The 2023 Dakar Rally trekked into Saudi Arabia with Stage Two, a 588-kilometer run from the bivouac at Sea Camp to Al-‘Ula (158 km Liaison road/430 km Special). Riders are already employing tactics and strategies, with some intently cruising along to keep a good spot in the next day’s send-off order while others are pushing the pace to make up for lost time.

It only took Mason Klein two days to make good on his promotion to the premier bike category, as a career-first Stage win also put the American in the overall lead. The BAS World KTM rider, among the first to embark on the rocky and duney route, stayed on pace with the front-runners through the Special and moved ahead when others backed down. Now a minute and a half ahead in the General Classification, Klein will be the first to follow Stage Three’s path through the canyons to Ha’il. Klein’s advantage in the overall time would be better if not for a two-minute speeding penalty that was tacked on.

Which rider purposefully checked up? That’d be Daniel Sanders, who led most of the day aboard his Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing machine before dropping to ninth. Sanders had good reason for slowing: this Dakar is his first event since a badly broken elbow, and the lack of seat time means he’d instead follow others for now.

Sebastian Bühler put in a 5:24:13 run during Stage Two, which got the Hero Motosports rider second place on the day and into the top ten of the General Classification, while Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Skyler Howes went three seconds slower and was credited with third place.