Dakar Rally 2023: Husqvarna double on stage 6 – Luciano Benavides wins, Skyler Howes leads overall

2023 Dakar Rally stage six results sees Luciano Benavides deliver the first stage victory, and a one-two finish for Husqvarana Factory Racing with teammate Skyler Howes second who increases his overall race lead.

Dakar ’23 stage 6 in a nutshell:

If any rider was left wanting to ride more bike time at this pointin the rally, stage six covered 919 kilometres today. 357 were the special, on sand and dunes between Ha'Il and Riyadh, but with a huge amount of road time following a change of plan due to weather conditions.
Though the stage was completed in good conditions, the 300km ride to Riyadh was a pig in cold rain.
The seventh day of the 2023 Dakar Rally saw a duel between Skyler Howes, Nacho Cornejo and Luciano Benavides. Cornejo started leading the first km, but it didn’t last beyond km 84 when rally leader Howes took the lead.
From then on, the American gradually increased his advantage over the rest, leading with a 1m32s advantage at refuelling – although Nacho Cornejo was still close.
With the tanks full, Luciano Benavides took another gear to close on Cornejo and Howes to finish off the job and in the last 150 kilometers he recovered more than a minute to take the lead and reach the finish line in first position with an advantage of 1m19s.
In the seven days of competition that makes it seven different winners and four different brands of bike at the top. A Dakar that is proving the most competitive of recent editions sees Howes now leading with a 3m32 advantage over Toby Price. Kevin Benavides is third at seven minutes back.
Toby Price did a solid shift of work today. Third yesterday, third today is no easy task but the Australian took advantage of 1m36s time bonus for opening up the track before the first refuelling. The two-times champ is having a fairly discreet race and despite a “biggy” yesterday with Joan Barreda, he’s looking as solid as any guy up there.
Barreda does not seem to be affected by the crash suffered yesterday and the Honda rider finished fourth today with Kevin Benavides 12 seconds further behind, closing a close-knit top five for the stage.
Daniel Sanders had a tough day yesterday after being sick overnight, but bit the bullet and got on with the job taking P7, three minutes behind the winner – a huge improvement considering the 20+ minutes he gave up yesterday…
It's been a bad day again for Mason Klein. The young American rider crashed twice and reached the finish line in 11th place, 7m33s behind the winner which drops him further down the top 10 classifications after he as the race leader just two days ago.
Rally 2 class continues to be dominated by Romain Dumontier who finished in 18th today, 11 minutes down on the stage winner. The Frenchman has over 10 minutes lead on Paolo Lucci now.
Charan Moore has scored the victory in the Original by Motul category after finishing 32nd. He takes back the lead in the general classification. Benjamin Melot has been second in the category and 34th scratch and Javi Vega third in the category and 37th scratch.
Bad luck struck today with Sandra Gómez who, after taking the lead in the women’s category yesterday, didn’t make the start after bike problems. Her team told us she got busy with the tools and fixed the problem but then arrived at the stage SS time check too late and they wouldn't let her enter the special. That leaves Mirjam Pol in charge again of the female class.