2022 Dakar Stage 11: Bogged down in the dunes

The see-saw of the “Win one day, lose time the next day” formula has predictably caught up with Yamaha’s Adrien Van Beveren, along with a bunch of general bad luck (the Dutch rider says a waypoint failed to open for him today, costing him a bunch of time). The result? AvB slipped from first overall to fourth overall, ending up in 14th overall in Stage 11.

Realistically speaking, he’s lost wayyyyyy too much time to make up in tomorrow’s short 160-km special. Here’s what he said on social media after the stage:

“Not my best day today, following yesterday’s strategies, leaving 4th this morning, not ideal for a special with lots of Navs and dunes. But it has to be done with and I was totally motivated with the desire to apply! But at km4 I waste a lot of time on a waypoint… It’s costing me a lot.. after that nav error, I crawled as hard as I can to make up for lost time but it wasn’t enough. I’m not hiding that I have a lot on my heart because I was close to realizing my childhood dream… 1 more milestone tomorrow, 160kms special, will continue to give it my all to get home with no regrets! I really enjoyed a lot on this Dakar, with a great team surrounding me, top mechanics… And it’s not over!! Tomorrow we put on the gas and don’t give up.”

So, that’s probably it for Yamaha—the winner will almost certainly be Sam Sunderland (GasGas), Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) or Matthias Walkner (KTM). They’re the top-three overall, and have played the strategy correctly, sitting pretty for Stage 12.

Here’s a dirty side effect of the new “wild card” rule, that sees riders allowed to continue after failing to complete a stage. Today’s stage winner was Kevin Benavides—under traditional Dakar rules, he would be gone, after mechanical failure a couple of stages back. Now, he was able to open the stage for his KTM teammates (and GasGas, which is basically KTM), helping them to a win. He’s out of contention, and previously would have have been punted out of the race, but now he just might be a big part of the final win. Now, Sam Sunderland (who finished second on today’s stage) can follow Big Kev’s tracks tomorrow.

This is a totally predictable side effect of the rule change, and frankly, it’s going to make the unfair yo-yo effect even worse. Smaller, lesser-funded squads like Yamaha (and Sherco, and Hero, and Fantic, and BAS World, etc.) will find it hard to compete with KTM and Honda when those big-budget organizations can just flood the course with riders, even at this late stage, when normally attrition would have taken them out.

⏱ More than 21 minutes behind today’s stage winner, @A_Vanbeveren probably lost the Dakar… but he still enjoys riding in the Saudi dunes. 🏜

🤩 And we like it too!#Dakar2022 pic.twitter.com/MPjo7fJIgH

— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 13, 2022

No doubt we’ll see other unfortunate changes in coming years as well, and it makes you wonder—as Dakar becomes more of a slick, professional event, all about budgets and money, will the Africa ECO race take over as the true privateer’s destination event? After all, it’s far closer in spirit to the original Dakar, even following much of the original route.

I mean—it’s been well over a decade since the Dakar Rally actually visited Dakar. It’s gone from a two-continent rally (original configuration) to a single-continent rally (South American version) to a single-country rally (current Saudi Arabia configuration). How much longer will it be, before the fans lose interest in an event that’s increasingly becoming unrecognizable?

2022 DAKAR RALLY STAGE 11 STANDINGS

2022 DAKAR OVERALL STANDINGS AFTER STAGE 11