Australia's defending Dakar Rally motorbike champion Daniel Sanders moved into the overall lead after winning Monday's second stage in Saudi Arabia.
The 31-year-old covered the 518km route from Yanbu to Al Ula in 4hrs 13mins 37 seconds to cross the line 1min 35s clear of KTM teammate Edgar Canet, who lost time with a couple of minor crashes.
American Ricky Brabec, the 2024 winner, completed the day's podium for Honda.
📺 Flash News coming in from Stage 2 of the #Dakar2026, between Yanbu and AlUla.
— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 5, 2026
Daniel Sanders takes first place in the Bike category, ahead of Edgar Canet.#DakarInSaudi pic.twitter.com/ieF9y0vt1a
With this 10th stage win in motorsport's toughest challenge, Sanders climbed to the top of the bike standings by half a minute from Canet, winner of the prologue and opening stage, with Brabec 2min 18s back in third.
"The navigation was really tricky in some places but we fixed a couple of mistakes quickly and didn't lose too much time," said Sanders, who has been competing in the Dakar since 2021.
The rider, who lists bee-keeping as one of his hobbies and is known as 'Chucky', added: "I caught Edgar after around one hundred kilometres. It was so hard to catch him and pass him before.
"After that, there was some really tricky stuff and he (Canet) just sat behind and watched, followed and learned."
Canet was thankful to complete an eventful stage unharmed.
"Well, the stage is completed," said the 20-year-old Spaniard.
"The truth is that it has been a long stage, 400 km opening the track for the first time.
"I had a few crashes, as you can see, but hey, these things happen. There are some rocks that you can’t see when you’re looking at the roadbook," he added.
Daniel Sanders is the Stage 2️⃣ winner 🥇 and new overall leader ⏱ #Dakar2026 #DakarInSaudi pic.twitter.com/AIYMU7gUQL
— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 5, 2026
In the car category, American Seth Quintero beat his South African Toyota Gazoo Racing teammate Henk Lategan by 1:42 with Saudi's reigning champion Yazeed Al Rajhi in third.
Qatar's five-time Dakar winner Nasser Al-Attiyah heads the standings driving for Dacia by just seven seconds from Quintero after coming in eighth in the stage.
📊 Seth Quintero continues his rise with a third career stage win in Ultimate, claiming victory today in the spectacular setting of AlUla.
— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 5, 2026
With his new co-driver Andrew Short, the young American now sits just 7 seconds behind Nasser Al-Attiyah in the overall standings.
All the… pic.twitter.com/sFJNs2pImr
Tuesday's third stage is a 422km special starting and ending in Al Ula.