David Zille has won the first stage in the Challenger category, but victory fell into his lap due to a time penalty for Paul Spierings. The Dutchman was fastest on the road but received a 1:10 penalty and had to settle for second place. In the SSV class, Polaris dominated with a complete podium lockout, led by Xavier de Soultrait.
Spierings seemed to be trailing Zille for a long time, but tore through the final kilometres and was ultimately the fastest. At kilometre 260 he was still 13 seconds behind the Argentinian, but the prologue winner showed his class in the finale. “At kilometre 150, Spierings was still 2:53 behind, but he stormed through the final phase to snatch victory,” the organisation reported. However, a 1:10 time penalty threw a spanner in the works: he finished second, 42 seconds behind Zille.
Nicolás Cavigliasso completed the podium in third at 2:03. The defending champion in the Challenger class still led at the first time check, but gradually dropped back and finished outside the battle for victory.
Benavides drops back, Akeel loses contact
Kevin Benavides, the two-time motorcycle winner making his Dakar debut on four wheels, experienced a mixed day. At earlier time checks he was still on the podium, but eventually dropped back to seventh place at over nine minutes.
Dania Akeel, who finished third in the prologue, couldn’t match the pace of the Argentinian leaders. The Saudi was still nine seconds back at kilometre 28, but gradually faded. At kilometre 70 she was already 3:20 behind, at kilometre 108 that had grown to 7:42. She finished eighth at almost ten minutes.
Dutch Challengers with mixed results
Alongside Spierings’ second place, several other Dutch drivers were active in the Challenger category. Kees Koolen finished fifteenth at 16:59, followed by Puck Klaassen in seventeenth at 18:42. A positive surprise was Pim Klaassen, who rode an excellent stage from the back of the field and in his debut moved up nicely to 21st place at 29:01.
Riné Streppel finished 25th at 48:37, while Dick van Culenborg came home 28th at over an hour behind (1:03:43). Henri van Steenbergen finished 32nd at 2:04:26, after stopping earlier in the stage but managing to continue. Lex Peters was 34th at 2:18:06 – halfway through the stage he was still comfortably in the top 25, but was thrown back afterwards.
Daniel Kersbergen had to retire from the stage early and received a stage penalty for this. He is allowed to start tomorrow in the Dakar Experience classification.
De Soultrait dominates SSV class
In the SSV category, Xavier de Soultrait took victory with an impressive final sprint. The Frenchman, who already won the Dakar in 2024, took the lead at kilometre 180 and never relinquished it. He beat Alexandre Pinto by 3:34 and prologue winner Brock Heger by 3:48, with Polaris occupying the first three places.
“De Soultrait adds another victory to his record: he has won twice on a motorbike and now five times in SSVs,” according to the organisation. “He is now the first leader of the 2026 edition in this class.”
Can-Am with “Chaleco” López as best
The best Can-Am was that of Francisco “Chaleco” López, the three-time Dakar winner in the SSV class. The Chilean finished fourth at 4:02. Kyle Chaney was sixth (+8:02) as the best other Can-Am driver.
Hunter Miller, who was still leading at kilometre 108 with a one-minute advantage, dropped back to eighth place (+8:56). The battle between Polaris and Can-Am was clearly won in the opening stage by Polaris with four cars in the top five.
Kristoffersson with nightmare start
Johan Kristoffersson experienced a horror start to his Dakar debut. The eight-time rallycross world champion rolled his Polaris in the prologue. “He blames the camel grass on the course,” the organisation reported. “His Polaris took a beating. If he manages to take the start this morning after working through the night on his car, he will start dead last and have to overtake the entire field in a cloud of dust.”
Richard Aczel, with Dutch navigator Wouter Rosegaar, finished 21st in the SSV category at 34:50 from De Soultrait.
