KLIM Dakar Rally Daily | 2026 Dakar Rally Stage One

The 2026 Dakar Rally kicks off Stage One with a loop from the seaside bivouac in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia over 300kms of timed special test course. Front runners of the race remain unchanged from the short prologue yesterday with Red Bull KTM Factory Racing's prodigy Edgar Canet taking the stage win over his teammate Daniel Sanders by a little more than a minute, and 1:32 over American Monster Energy Honda HRC Rally's Ricky Brabec. The stage win keeps Canet in the lead for the second consecutive day, a feat last repeated by a Spaniard in 2015 by the country's legendary rally ace, Marc Coma. Overall standings mirror today's results with only Hero's Ross Branch getting shaken out of the top spots today after incurring a six-minute speeding penalty. Branch was on pace to take the victory today by more nearly two minutes before the penalty knocked him back. In today's show we chat with the top finishers (including Branch) and catch former Dakar winner Sam Sunderland in the pits for some great Dakar perspective. We also check in with two America privateer racers on the BAS Trucks KTM team, Nathan Rafferty and Brandon Krause, to hear how their rally experience is shaping up. All this plus much more Dakar Rally race insight and commentary from the Dakar Rally Daily team! Enjoy the show.

Follow and communicate with us via Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dakar\_rally\_daily/

And leave comments on Cycle News YouTube coverage:

https://www.youtube.com/@cyclenews

Cycle News official race results coverage:

https://www.cyclenews.com/2026/01/article/2026-dakar-rally-results/

Buy us a coffee!

https://ko-fi.com/dakarrallydaily

Visit our partners

KLIM

Rally Navigator

The Baja Rally

(more to come!)

Dakar Rally Daily is produced and edited by Jesse Ziegler, and hosted by Quinn Cody and Jesse Ziegler.