Barreda wins Stage 10, Brabec increases overall lead

Joan Barreda Bort has won Stage 10 of the 2020 Dakar Rally as factory Honda team-mate Ricky Brabec added almost five more minutes to his overall lead.

Pablo Quintanilla remained second overall on his Rockstar Energy Husqvarna entry while Toby Price slipped to fourth, 28:33s off the overall pace, behind Barreda Bort.

The Spaniard led at every waypoint of what was a shortened stage between Haradh and Shubaytah due to high winds, with only a 223km special stage completed out of a scheduled 534km.

The stage win is Barreda Bort’s first of the event and leaves him 27:09s behind Brabec with two stages remaining.

Brabec trailed by 1:07s when the stage was cut short, while Kevin Benavides made it an all-Monster Energy Honda top three on the day.

Price finished the stage 2:57s behind Barreda Bort in fourth position, followed by Red Bull KTM team-mate Luciano Benavides.

The Yamaha Motor Australia-supported Rodney Faggotter made it two Australians in the top six at 4:20s slower than the stage winner and only six seconds out of the top five, and is still 13th overall.

“After restart I got the navigation perfect where lots of people got lost and was given time back for assisting injured rider,” explained Faggotter on social media.

Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo (Monster Energy Honda) rounds out the overall top five, one spot ahead of 2018 champion Matthias Walkner (Red Bull KTM).

The latter was eighth for the stage, one position and 35 seconds up on Quintanilla, who had to open the road having taken out Stage 9.

“It was a strange day; finally, for me, I was opening the stage today,” said the Chilean.

“Always in these kind of conditions with off-piste and many dunes you lose time. In the end it was good for me.

“Tomorrow I will have a good starting position, so I can catch up a lot of time and we will see what happens.”

The second-last stage of Dakar 2020 is the return to Haradh, with a 379km special stage and 365km of liaison scheduled.

General classification: Bikes (Top 10)