Pablo Quintanilla was initially the day’s victor and Joan Barreda Bort (Hero Motosports) the runner-up until both were penalised for as yet unannounced reasons.

UPDATE: Quintanilla, Barreda received speeding penalties

Red Bull KTM’s Kevin Benavides is thus officially the winner, by a margin of 1:11s over fellow Dakar champion Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy Honda).

Hero Motorsports’ Ross Branch, though, retains the overall lead, by a slightly increased margin of 3:11s to Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo.

The latter is one of four Monster Energy Honda riders filling out the top five, the others being Brabec, Quintanilla, and Adrien Van Beveren.

Kevin Benavides jumped from 12th overall at the start of the day to sixth, 20:32s off the pace, with fellow Red Bull KTM pilot Price seventh at another 2:25s in arrears.

Price’s fellow Australian, Red Bull GasGas’s Daniel Sanders, is a position further back and 24:13s off the summit of the overall classification.

The GasGas team is down to one rider with its 2022 champion, Sam Sunderland, a withdrawal following technical problems.

Stage 3 was the longest of the event so far, with a total of 733km in riding from Al Duwadimi to Al Salamiya, including a 438km special comprised of a mixture of ricks, sand, and dunes.

Mason Klein (KORR Offroad Racing) was quickest initially before Quintanilla took over as pace-setter at Kilometre 96.

Kevin Benavides had shipped time the day before due to navigational errors but was having no such trouble on Stage 3 and grabbed the ascendancy at Kilometre 404.

Quintanilla hit back and was provisionally classified the stage winner by 1:38s, thanks in part due to road opener bonuses, before he copped a six-minute penalty and Barreda was whacked 12 minutes.

Brabec, who finished the stage strongly, inherited second and is now 5:08s from the overall lead.

Van Beveren took third and Skyler Howes (Monster Energy Honda) was classified fourth while, crucially Branch pipped Cornejo to fifth.

Price quickly lost several minutes relative to his key rivals before he and Howes stopped, as is protocol, when Sebastian Bühler crashed his Hero, 360km into the special.

Fortunately, the German was conscious and able to move despite lower back pain, but was airlifted to hospital for checks, while Price and Howes were each credited with around 18 minutes.

The incident comes a day after Carles Falcon had to be resuscitated following a heavy crash and was flown to hospital in a serious but stable condition.

Stage 4 takes the field from Al Salamiya to Al-Hofuf with a relatively short, fast 299km special.

General classification: Bikes Top 10