Dakar: The first stage was won by the crew of de Mevius and Bomel.

      The first stage of the Dakar rally‑raid is behind us, and its winners deserve special mention: today the crew of Guillaume de Mevius and Matthieu Bomel — the Belgian‑French duo competing in a MINI JCW Rally racing SUV — were the first to cross the finish.

      They covered a distance of 518 km, of which 305 km were a timed special stage, completing it 40 seconds faster than the crew of Nasser Al‑Attiyah, who are competing in a Dacia Sandrider, and almost a minute and a half ahead of experienced Czechs Martin Prokop and Viktor Chytka, who are driving a Ford Raptor — the same four‑wheel‑drive prototype as Martin Ekström, the factory Ford Racing driver, who set the fourth‑best time.

      And now why crew No. 222 deserves special attention: at the end of January last year, shortly after the previous Dakar, Matthieu Bomel was involved in a crash in France, suffered serious injuries and underwent amputation of his right leg. At the time we quoted his words, which sounded like bravado: despite everything, Matthieu promised he would return to racing. But he really did, and today he and his driver celebrated a win on the first stage of the supermarathon.

      Carlos Sainz and his co‑driver Lucas Cruz, Ekström’s teammates, rounded out the top six, finishing about two minutes behind today’s leaders, after which the four‑time Dakar winner commented:

      “We achieved our goal, avoided punctures because we tried to tackle the rocky sections cautiously. Moreover, tomorrow we start sixth, which is a good position. Those starting behind us will attack as aggressively as possible, and we intend to simply maintain the pace we need.”

      Unlike Sainz Sr., another favorite, Sébastien Loeb — like Al‑Attiyah, who races for The Dacia Sandriders — had less luck: during the route he had to change punctured tyres twice, which inevitably costs time. As a result, the nine‑time World Rally Champion reached the finish in tenth, three minutes behind the stage winners. However, he wasn’t too upset, because, like Sainz, he believes he will start tomorrow from a fairly favorable position.

      In the two‑wheel category, young Spaniard Edgar Canet again topped the field, as he did yesterday — the factory KTM rider, and after two consecutive stage wins he naturally leads the individual classification. However, Ross Branch, who rides for the factory team of the Indian company Hero, actually reached the finish ahead of him, but the rider from Botswana received 6 penalty minutes and dropped back to seventh place.

      Daniel Sanders, last year’s Dakar winner in this class and always among the favourites, finished just over a minute behind Canet. Third place went to Ricky Brabec, the American Honda rider and the Dakar 2024 winner.

      In the Challenger class the stage was won by the Argentine duo David Sille and Sebastian Sezan, who, as last year, compete in a Dutch‑made lightweight off‑roader Taurus T3MAX. They finished one minute ahead of the Dutch pair Paul Spierings and Jan‑Peter van der Stelt, who drive a car of the same make but a slightly different model.

      Finally, in the truck category first place went to the Czech trio of Aleš Loprais, a seasoned rally‑raid master. He and his two teammates, navigator David Kripal and mechanic Jiří Stross, are driving an Iveco Powerstar racing prototype prepared for the rally‑raid by the Czech‑Dutch Loprais Team De Rooy FPT.

      Tomorrow the supermarathon participants face the next stage, and it will be tougher than the first — not least because the length of the special stages exceeds 400 km. It runs mostly through mountainous terrain; the route will include some fairly fast sections, but also winding, rock‑strewn stretches where the risk of punctures is high and caution is required. However, “caution,” when applied to rally‑raid drivers, is a relative concept.