Van Beveren marches on as Schareina takes a tumble Copy
Today at 10:38 AM
Monster Energy Honda HRC's Adrien Van Beveren remained on fine form during the 2025 Dakar Rally with an excellent second place finish on stage nine today.
The timed 357km section of the stage from Riyadh to Haradh, a town in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, was all about speed rather than endurance as a shorter day on their Honda CRF450 RALLY bikes beckoned for Monster Energy Honda HRC. After Pablo Quintanilla's retirement yesterday the remaining four riders lined up for a stage that would take them across a mixture of rough terrain amongst canyons and riverbeds as they made their getaway from Riyadh's towering skyline to the vastness of the desert.
The first Monster Energy Honda HRC rider to make his way towards Haradh was Adrien Van Beveren. Hampered by some difficult navigation notes early on across the fast, stony tracks which caused a couple of about turns, the Frenchman kept calm and rode to the finish just under two minutes back from stage winner Luciano Benavides who had set a blistering pace out front. Van Beveren gained six minutes on teammate Tosha Schareina overall as he narrows in on the runner-up spot and a second consecutive Dakar podium.
Tosha Schareina's plan has been to keep the pressure on to Daniel Sanders in the overall standings and today's blast across the desert would have provided him with plenty of opportunity to open up the throttle and gain some time on the Australian. However, a tumble just 20km into the stage thwarted his plans. Luckily the Spaniard was unhurt and regained his composure to push on to the end while riding alongside teammate Ricky Brabec. He finished the day in seventh and after managing to salvage precious minutes, the time lost to Sanders was just 3'42''. The ongoing battle between the top two has now increased to 14'45'' with just three days left of racing.
American duo Ricky Brabec and Skyler Howes both rode a solid stage finishing in fourth and fifth respectively in an area that they've experienced before as Haradh has featured three times on previous Dakar routes. Unchanged in the overall standings to remain fifth and sixth, Brabec remains optimistic about the Empty Quarter challenge that awaits from tomorrow onwards where surprises could be sprung as the days count down.
There are just three stages remaining on Dakar 2025 with tomorrow's test being a mere 116kms included in road sections of 520kms, however the intensity level will remain high as it will be in the depths of the Empty Quarter where the biggest and most difficult dunes will be. The views from the peak of the dunes will be stunning but the soft sand in the dips in between will be the trickiest part that the organisers have set to potentially catch riders out.
Ruben Faria
We have arrived in Haradh, the finish of stage nine and it was a good day for us. We had a different strategy for Tosha but he crashed hard 12km into the stage, luckily he could get going again and not lose too much time. Adrien finished second today which was a good result for him, Ricky and Skyler were fourth and fifth, they will have some tracks tomorrow that they can follow so they can push and try to catch some time.
Stage ten is a short 116km special stage with 95% dunes and 5% sand so I don't think it will be a fast one, but it will still be very intense. After tomorrow, stage eleven will be really important so let's see where the riders finish tomorrow before we plan for the remaining days
Ricky Brabec 9
Stage: 4th Overall: 5th
Today was good, it was kind of a fast special and there wasn't much to do today, it was more of a transfer day. I caught my teammate Tosha early on after his crash and we rode together the whole day. I'm happy with the ride and how things are going. There's only a couple of days left to go, so I think for tomorrow we're in a good position to gauge what's going to happen and then go full attack on stage eleven. Nothing's impossible and nothing's out of sight. We just have to keep working at it.
Skyler Howes 10
Stage: 5th Overall: 6th
Stage nine was probably one of the fastest ones of the whole rally, we were on the speed limiter at 160km/h for a lot of the day through the fast tracks. There was a lot of gravel, some big ditches and also some tricky navigation. Out in the zone they bulldozed these new roads, I think they're out to look for oil or something and there's a lot of the tracks out there, so it was very easy to get tripped up and think you were on a good track and that's what happened to me after the refuelling. I had a really good stage going in the first half, clipping some minutes off and then I just kind of got stuck in this boulder like field, so I lost a couple of minutes there, but overall I had a pretty good stage, it was really fast and kind of my style. We've done this stage probably three or four times now, obviously some differences in there, but more or less the same zone, same kind of route. I'm always a fan of this one and I always seem to get caught out by this stuff, so I look forward to next time I'm in this zone when I can have a good run at it. It was a positive day in fifth, puts us in a good position to push on on a very long day in the saddle tomorrow as we head to the Empty Quarter.
Adrien Van Beveren 42
Stage: 2nd Overall: 3rd
It was again a very tough day with the navigation, the rough terrain had a lot of stones and we rode through some really destroyed places, canyons and riverbeds. I made some small mistakes in the navigation as I couldn't find the piste, then I went off track in the stones and lost quite a bit of time. I then saw Luciano was on the gas so I had to push as well and I only caught him at the very end, but overall it was a good solid day. There are still many kilometres to go so I will give my best to the end.
Tosha Schareina 68
Stage: 7th Overall: 2nd
Today, I had a big crash at the beginning, more or less after 20km. I then didn't have too much visibility with the sand and the early morning light. After that, Ricky caught up with me and we rode together until the end. I lost time but it's part of the game. After that crash, if you are all okay and continue riding then it's super good, so I was happy that I could do that. Now I'm going to try and enjoy my rest this afternoon and get ready for tomorrow.
Rally GP Results – Stage 9
Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Time/Gap
1 Benavides Luciano 1 ARG KTM Factory Racing Team 03:15:38
2 Van Beveren Adrien 42 FRA Monster Energy Honda HRC + 01:54
3 Sanders Daniel AUS KTM Factory Racing Team + 03:04
4 Brabec Ricky 9 USA Monster Energy Honda HRC + 03:39
5 Howes Skyler 10 USA Monster Energy Honda HRC + 04:40
6 Cornejo Florimo José Ignacio 11 CHI Hero Motorsports Team Rally + 04:55
7 Schareina Tosha 68 SPA Monster Energy Honda HRC + 06:46
8 Santolino Lorenzo 15 SPA Sherco TVS Rally Factory + 14:45
9 Gonçalves Rui 19 POR Sherco TVS Rally Factory + 24:47
10 Svitko Stefan 142 SLO Slovnaft Rally Team + 01:10:38
Rally GP Provisional Standings after Stage 9
Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Time/Gap
1 Sanders Daniel AUS KTM Factory Racing Team 47:45:34
2 Schareina Tosha 68 SPA Monster Energy Honda HRC + 14:45
3 Van Beveren Adrien 42 FRA Monster Energy Honda HRC + 20:21
4 Benavides Luciano 1 ARG KTM Factory Racing Team + 27:44
5 Brabec Ricky 9 USA Monster Energy Honda HRC + 31:31
6 Howes Skyler 10 USA Monster Energy Honda HRC + 38:39
7 Cornejo Florimo José Ignacio 11 CHI Hero Motorsports Team Rally + 55:23
8 Santolino Lorenzo 15 SPA Sherco TVS Rally Factory + 02:48:47
9 Gonçalves Rui 19 POR Sherco TVS Rally Factory + 02:50:50
10 Svitko Stefan 142 SLO Slovnaft Rally Team + 03:05:15
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