The American had increased his lead in the general classification beyond seven minutes on Stage 9 and has now turned the screws even tighter with victory on Stage 10.

Ross Branch remains second overall but the Hero Motosports rider ceded another 3:45s relative to Brabec with the seventh-fastest stage time and now trails the Honda pilot by 10:54s with two stages remaining.

Branch is also still the sole non-Honda rider in the top four, with just a 52-second buffer now to Adrien Van Beveren and 2:54s to Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo.

Red Bull KTM team-mates Kevin Benavides and Toby Price round out the overall top six but the former is more than half an hour off the pace and the latter more than 40 minutes away from top spot.

Brabec and Van Beveren opened the road together on what was a rocky, 371km special which took the field on a loop around AlUla.

They continued to blaze what relatively minor trail could be created, and were the first riders to reach the finish line.

Once opener bonuses were accounted for, Brabec beat Van Beveren by 20 seconds, but Cornejo split them at a time just two seconds slower than the former’s and hence it is he who is set to ride with the likely Dakar 2024 champion tomorrow.

Red Bull GasGas rider Daniel Sanders had something of a bounceback with the fourth-fastest stage time but is still eighth overall.

Price rounded out the day’s top 10, 6:48s slower than Brabec.

For those trying to chase down the 2020 Dakar champion, a glimmer of hope still exists given tomorrow’s penultimate stage features a 480km special across the rugged terrain between AlUla and Yanbu.

General classification: Bikes Top 10