Dakar, 9th stage: Eryk Goczal beats his uncle Michal, Roma in the lead

Nephew against uncle, duels between teammates: the ninth stage of the 2026 Dakar offers truly particular challenges in the race reserved for cars. The partial victory goes to Eryk Goczal. The Pole on a Toyota scores his first high at 21 years old after tackling the 410 km of this Marathon stage in 3h46’42”, from Wadi Ad Dawasir to the bivouac in the desert. Curiously, Eryk beats his uncle Michal Goczal, 7’45” behind. Third Toby Price at 11’36”, preceding the South African Brian Baragwanath (+11’58”). Fifth Guillaume De Mevius (+14′ 03”), followed by Cristina Gutierrez (+14’49”). Then the two best-placed men in the standings in the ninth stage: Carlos Sainz and Nani Roma. The Ford drivers clocked 15’31” and 15’36” respectively, but gained ground on all the others taking the final victory.

overtaking

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Roma, in fact, becomes leader in the general classification of the Dakar for the first time since 2014. The Spaniard takes advantage of the penalty collected by Sainz, who pays 1’10” for speeding. Now Carlos is chasing at 57″. Nasser Al-Attiyah has been ousted: the Qatari in a Dacia has navigation problems that cost him 26’23” and seventeenth place in today’s stage. The former leader slips to third place in the general classification with a delay of 1’10”. Difficult day also for Henk Lategan, only sixteenth at the finish line: the South African struggles with the power steering on his Toyota. He is now fourth at 6’13” from Rome. It’s worse for Mattias Ekstrom, who is having difficulty with his orientation, but the Frenchman is sixth at 21’06”. 49”), Moraes (+36′ 49”), Serradori (+41’04”) and Gutierrez (49’22”).

motorcycle

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Tosha Schareina returns to victory in the ninth stage. The Spaniard on Honda is the fastest over the 418 timed km, covered in 3h45’42”. It is his third hit in this edition of the Dakar. Schareina leaves Daniel Sanders behind: the Ktm rider pays 4’35”. Third is the South African Michael Docherty (Ktm), the best in the R2 class, with a gap of 4’50”. The other expected protagonists are struggling. Ricky Brabec (Honda) he is fourth at 6’22”. Things are much worse for Luciano Benavides: the former overall leader is only ninth at 11’50”, with Skyler Howes (+10’10”), Neels Theric (+10’50”) and Bradley Cox (+11’10”) finishing in fifth place he is tenth at 17’16”. Today’s second place still makes Sanders smile, regular in his placings and good at gaining 4’43” of bonuses. An approach rewarded, for now, by the general ranking. The Australian leads with 6’24” ahead of Brabec. It is the largest margin among the bikes in this edition. Third was Benavides, still fighting despite a 7’05” delay. Schareina’s situation is more difficult, forced to recover 15’28”. A really big gap.