Home » Loprais wins 3rd Dakar stage in Truck category

Loprais wins 3rd Dakar stage in Truck category

Stage 3 overview: Dakar 2025

Ales Loprais proved his class once again by winning the third stage of the Dakar Rally. Together with on-board mechanic Darek Rodewald and navigator David Kripal, he brought the De Rooy-built Iveco across the finish line first. This achievement is remarkable considering the fact that the team was only recently formed. Rodewald is an experienced force at De Rooy, with multiple Dakar victories to his name, while Kripal comes from the car category, where he was previously successful with Tomas Ourednicek.

Macik retains the lead

Although Loprais was closing in on the standings, Martin Macik retained his leading position. With a fourth place in the stage and a time of 5 minutes and 20 seconds behind Loprais, Macik now has a lead of 3 minutes and 34 seconds in the general classification. Jaroslav Soltys recovered after a tough time and finished fifth today, 12 minutes behind Loprais.

Strong performances by Van den Brink and Zala

Mitchel van den Brink finished third, just 2 minutes and 7 seconds behind the winner. He had a fast stage, but was hampered by a blowout caused by overheated brakes. Thanks to quick assistance from his father, Martin van den Brink, Mitchel was able to keep pushing. Martin sacrificed his spare wheels in the process, which meant he had to tone down his own race and finished eighth. Lithuanian Vaidotas Zala took an impressive second place, just 53 seconds behind Loprais.

Other notable performances

Kees Koolen finished sixth, despite a puncture early in the stage. He sees his position in the standings as a good starting point for the marathon stage. Richard de Groot and his team, known as the “Firemen of Dakar,” achieved an impressive seventh place and are now seventh in the general classification. William de Groot managed to start despite engine problems and finished fourteenth, while Anja van Loon-Van de Laar finished seventeenth, despite technical setbacks.

Technical challenges and resilience

Maurik van den Heuvel and his team lost 90 minutes due to technical problems, but after recovery drove impressive times, even faster than the top 3 trucks. Despite their efforts, the team did drop back a bit in the rankings.

Preliminary results Stage 3:

  1. Loprais – 3h36m21s
  2. Zala – +0:00:53
  3. Mitchel van den Brink – +0:02:07
  4. Macik – +0:05:20
  5. Soltys – +0:12:48

General classification after Stage 3:

  1. Macik – 21h06m10s
  2. Loprais – +0:03:34
  3. Zala – +0:34:23
  4. Mitchel van den Brink – +1:13:18
  5. Martin van den Brink – +2:21:59

Preview: Marathon stage

Tomorrow, the first part of the marathon stage begins, a challenging 415-kilometre route to Alula. The mechanics have just two hours to maintain the vehicles. After that, the responsibility for maintenance lies entirely with the riders. The second part of the marathon stage to Hail follows on Thursday, after which a much-needed rest day awaits.