KTM’s Canet and Sanders lead Dakar Prologue 1-2

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2026 Dakar Rally

Prologue – Yanbu to Yanbu

The 2026 Dakar Rally has kicked off with the 22 km timed prologue giving riders their first taste, with KTM claiming three of the top-five positions, led by Edgar Canet, marking his first special victory, if a particularly short one. That does make the Spanish rider the youngest stage winner at just 20-years-old.

Edgar Canet - Dakar 2026 Prologue - Image by Marcelo Maragni / Red Bull Content Pool

Right behind him was Australia’s Daniel Sanders, only three-seconds off the 11m31s leading time, with Ricky Brabec third, a further two-seconds off the leader, and representing the top Honda HRC rider.

Daniel Sanders - Dakar 2026 Prologue - Image by Marcelo Maragni / Red Bull Content Pool

Ricky Brabec – P3

“The prologue was great, I made it to the finish in a good position so we’re looking good for tomorrow. I’m happy to get some speed under our belt and shake the monkey off our back. Overall it’s a good start, but tomorrow starts the real Dakar Rally.”

Luciano Benavides marked the third KTM in fourth, followed by Hero Motorsports’ Ross Branch, who is off to a good start, in turn followed by Michael Docherty of BAS World KTM, who led the Rally2 class.

Luciano Benavides - Dakar 2026 Prologue - Image by Kin Marcin / Red Bull Content Pool

The rest of the Honda HRC roster claimed seventh through ninth, with Schareina just a second ahead of van Beveren, while Howes was a further eight-seconds in arrears.

Tosha Schareina – P6

“It was not easy, so different from the prologues we normally do as part of the World Rally-Raid Championship. It was so fast, flat out and I tried to push, finishing in sixth. I think we will have a good position for tomorrow. We will aim to start further back, but it’s just the first day and we have 13 more days ahead, so we’ll just go for it.”

Adrien Van Beveren – P7

It was good to release the nerves today. It was quite a fast prologue, like almost full gas all the way. I maybe at some point came off the gas a bit too much, but overall I felt really good. The bike is comfortable, I feel safe and I can’t wait to start tomorrow for the long stages.”

Skyler Howes – P8

“The prologue was good for me, I really enjoy prologues like this, I mean this is the biggest race in the world, so to have nice open desert on a fast prologue is really cool and a longer one as well. It felt good out there, the bike is feeling good, we’ve been working hard as a team and I have a decent result so it will put me in a good position for the start of the rally which is stage one, that’s when the real racing begins. I’m happy to be here at the start of my eighth Dakar now, which is crazy to say and it’s a dream come true to be here with Monster Energy Honda HRC and I’m happy. I’m looking forward to these next two weeks of chaos.”

Rounding out the top-10 was Martin Michek.

Another Aussie sits in 81st in the form of David Brock, nephew of legend Peter Brock, and riding a KTM 450 RR, having competed the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge and the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal (both W2RC legs) in 2025.

Behind Rally2 leader Docherty were Tobias Ebster and Konrad Dąbrowski, while rookies Preston Campbell and Ruy Barbosa, both astride Hondas, rounded out the top five in their class.

It wasn’t all roses for competitors, Neels Theric had an electric failure at just 6 km on his Kove Factory machine, and would finish the day with a time of 2h43m29s, after the same failure reappeared just 2.5 km from the stage finish, ending the day last in 115th.

In the Ultimate four-wheel class, Toby Price and navigator Armand Monleon sit 16th with the Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC car.

Stage One Tomorrow:

Stage one begins tomorrow and will provide the first true test of Dakar endurance for both riders. Departing from the Yanbu bivouac, competitors will face a demanding total distance of 518 km, including 305 km of timed special across rugged, rocky terrain inland, before looping back to camp after a long day in the saddle.

2026 Dakar Rally Prologue Results/Standings

Pos	Rider	Nat	Team	Time/Gap
1	E. Canet	ESP	Red Bull KTM	11m31
2	D. Sanders	AUS	Red Bull KTM	+0m03
3	R. Brabec	USA	Monster Energy Hon	+0m05
4	L. Benavides	ARG	Red Bull KTM	+0m11
5	R. Branch	BOT	Hero Motosports	+0m16
6	M. Docherty	RSA	BAS World KTM	+0m19
7	T. Schareina	ESP	Monster Energy Hon	+0m23
8	A. Van Beveren	FRA	Monster Energy Hon	+0m24
9	S. Howes	USA	Monster Energy Hon	+0m32
10	M. Michek	CZE	Hoto Factory	+0m44
11	T. Ebster	AUT	Hero Motosports	+0m45
12	K. Dabrowski	POL	Duust Rally	+0m45
13	P. Campbell	USA	Monster Energy Hon	+0m49
14	R. Barbosa	CHI	HT Rally Raid	+0m51
15	S. Svitko	SVK	Slovnaft Rally	+0m52
16	B. Cox	RSA	Sherco Factory	+0m52
17	E. Gyenes	ROU	Autonet Motorcycle	+0m52
18	D. Drdaj	CZE	Cajdasrot	+1m00
19	M. Klein	USA	Hoto Factory	+1m02
20	I. Cornejo	CHI	Hero Motosports	+1m05
21	M. Ventura	POR	Monster Energy Hon	+1m05
22	L. Santolino	ESP	Sherco Factory	+1m07
23	T. Mulec	SLO	BAS World KTM	+1m08
24	M. Dovèze	FRA	BAS World KTM	+1m10
25	B. Santos	POR	BS – Frutas Patricia Pilar	+1m12
26	T. De Gavardo	CHI	BAS World KTM	+1m21
27	M. Engel	CZE	Orion MRG	+1m25
28	N. Jucius	LTU	HT Rally Raid	+1m27
29	P. Lucci	ITA	RSMoto HRC	+1m29
30	K. Erdenebileg	MGL	BAS World KTM	+1m31
31	J. Martiny	BEL	Anquety Motor Sport	+1m32
32	B. Krause	USA	BAS World KTM	+1m32
33	B. Melot	FRA	Esprit KTM	+1m38
34	J. Pedró	ESP	RallyBikes Pedregà	+1m38
35	D. Karka	LTU	HT Rally Raid	+1m41
36	J. Bas	FRA	Universal Ride	+1m45
37	H. Noah	IND	Sherco Factory	+1m51
38	A. Lledó	ESP	Pedregà	+1m52
39	T. Montanari	ITA	Solarys	+1m52
40	J. Vega	ESP	Pont Grup Kov	+1m56
41	F. Bancilhon	FRA	Bancilhon Florian	+2m02
42	S. Fujiwara	JPN	RSMoto HRC	+2m13
43	S. Sunier	CHN	Kov Factory	+2m22
44	M. Prokes	CZE	Moto Racing Krasne Pole	+2m22
45	M. Albalooshi	UAE	RSMoto Rally	+2m28
46	M. Schek	GER	Maxi Schek Motorsport	+2m31
47	M. Purevdorj	MGL	XRaids Experience	+2m32
48	C. Herbst	FRA	Challenger Racing	+2m35
49	E. Sokolovski	LTU	AG Rally Dubai	+2m38
50	R. Wallace	GBR	XRaids Experience	+2m45
51	N. Horeaux	FRA	Team Nomade	+2m51
52	J. Hillier	GBR	Muc-Off	+2m51
53	B. Domet	FRA	Team Casteu Trophy	+2m53
54	A. Gava	ITA	Kov Italia	+2m57
55	D. Pabiska	CZE	SP Moto Bohemia	+2m57
56	S. Marcic	SLO	Team Marcic	+3m00
57	I. Olthof	NED	HT Rally Raid	+3m02
58	T. Interno	ITA	Rally Pov	+3m03
59	G. Chollet	FRA	XRaids Experience	+3m09
60	E. Rafic	LBN	RSMoto Rally	+3m11
61	A. Vaudan	SUI	Team Casteu Trophy	+3m11
62	B. Tabin	POL	Orion MRG	+3m13
63	M. Cauvin	FRA	Team Nomade	+3m15
64	L. Gomes	BRA	Challenger Racing	+3m20
65	H. Shi	CHN	Hoto Factory	+3m20
66	P. Pinheiro	POR	Old Friends Rally	+3m22
67	L. Cola	ARG	Joyride Race Service	+3m35
68	A. Al Mogeera	KSA	Desert Storm	+3m38
69	C. López	ESP	Pedregà	+3m40
70	I. Zardoya	ESP	Joyride Race Service	+3m42
71	J. Broz	CZE	BAS World KTM	+3m45
72	J. Rostan	ARG	XRaids Experience	+3m52
73	T. Kongshoj	DEN	TKR	+3m59
74	S. Klevinskas	LTU	AG Rally Dubai	+3m59
75	A. Detourbet	FRA	Antoine Detourbet	+4m04
76	R. Venter	RSA	Team Nomade	+4m19
77	M. Hertlein	GER	HT Rally Raid	+4m20
78	C. Searles	GBR	S2D Race	+4m24
79	E. Al Hakeem	LBN	Desert Storm	+4m26
80	N. Silva	POR	Old Friends Rally	+4m30
81	D. Brock	AUS	Joyride Race Service	+4m30
82	C. Jautard	FRA	Team Nomade	+4m30
83	T. Boucherot	FRA	Team Nomade	+4m33
84	J. Guillén	ESP	Pedregà	+4m41
85	C. Searles	GBR	S2D Race	+4m43
86	B. Bethys	FRA	TB Racing	+4m44
87	M. Jauffraud	FRA	Jauffraud Racing	+4m45
88	C. Zacchetti	ITA	RSMoto HRC	+4m53
89	F. Grot	POL	BAS World KTM	+4m55
90	F. Dominguez	ESP	Cuenca Diputación 2026	+4m59
91	D. Mildenberger	SUI	Joyride Race Service	+5m01
92	M. Troquier	FRA	22 Tout Terrain	+5m02
93	R. Lastra	ESP	Old Friends Rally	+5m03
94	N. Rafferty	USA	BAS World KTM	+5m05
95	Z. Min	CHN	Zero Mileage Lubricant	+5m07
96	J. Torres	ESP	Motoclub Albacete	+5m09
97	B. Al Hamdan	KSA	Desert Storm	+5m13
98	R. Moreau	FRA	Team Nomade	+5m19
99	B. Pousset	FRA	Live In A Rear Wheel	+5m23
100	V. Boudros	GRE	DNA Filters Enduro Greece	+5m23
101	Z. Hongyi	CHN	Zero Mileage Lubricant	+5m24
102	L. Messager	FRA	LB Racing	+5m43
103	G. Jaunin	FRA	Team Nomade	+5m44
104	C. Pick	FRA	Team Nomade	+5m45
105	R. Al-Lal Lahadil	ESP	Melilla Ciudad del Deporte	+5m49
106	R. Przybyłowski	POL	HT Rally Raid	+5m50
107	F. Arredondo	GUA	BAS World KTM	+5m51
108	N. Hawker	GBR	Team Ikuzawa	+5m51
109	M. Riva	ITA	Solarys	+5m59
110	M. Garrido	ESP	Pedregà	+6m00
111	G. Satkus	LTU	AG Rally Dubai	+6m10
112	B. Pérez	ESP	Melilla Ciudad del Deporte	+6m40
113	R. Bouzigon	FRA	Esprit KTM	+6m45
114	J. Jain	IND	Desert Storm	+8m20
115	N. Theric	FRA	Kov Factory	+2m43

2026 Dakar Rally Route/Schedule

2026 Dakar Rally route

Day	Date	Event	Route – Liason (Special)	Notes
Sat	03/01	Prologue	Yanbu > Yanbu – 73km (22km)
Sun	04/01	S1	Yanbu > Yanbu – 213km (305km)
Mon	05/01	S2	Yanbu > AlUla – 104km (400km)
Tue	06/01	S3	AlUla > AlUla – 244km (422km)
Wed	07/01	S4	AlUla > AlUla – 75km (451km)	Marathon
Thu	08/01	S5	AlUla > Hail – 61km (356km)	Marathon (pt 2)
Fri	09/01	S6	Hail > Riyadh – 589km (331km)
Sat	10/01	Rest	Riyadh
Sun	11/01	S7	Riyadh > Wadi Ad Dawasir – 414km (462km)
Mon	12/01	S8	Wadi Ad Dawasir > Wadi Ad Dawasir – 236km (481km)
Tue	13/01	S9	Wadi Ad Dawasir > Bisha – 122km (418km)	Marathon
Wed	14/01	S10	Bisha > Bisha – 46km (371km)	Marathon (pt 2)
Thu	15/01	S11	Bisha > Al Henakiyah – 535km (347km)
Fri	16/01	S12	Al Henakiyah > Yanbu – 408km (310km)
Sat	17/01	S13	Yanbu > Yanbu – 36km (105km)	Final