Dakar 2021 Stage 5 Hero MotoSports Remains In Top 20 Noah Bounces Back

Dakar Rally 2021 continued with the conclusion of stage five that covered a distance of 662km from Riyadh to Al Qaisumah. This stage served up a multitude of challenges for its participants especially the 456km of special stage that faced a risk of occasional navigational errors as well as tough dunes that could flatten tyres pretty easily. That being said, stage 5 had some of the top runners maintain consistency despite having a low-key showing results. Here's everything that transpired.

It was a relatively consistent result for the Hero MotoSports squad in the bikes category with 20th place for Sebastian Buhler and 22nd for Joaquim Rodrigues. Harith Noah bounced back from a difficult stage 4 to finish 41st as the top Indian rider. As for CS Santosh, Hero MotoSports has stated that he didn't receive any major physical injuries except for a dislocated right shoulder and head trauma. That said, he will be put in an induced coma to aid his recovery. Stage 5 has left the Rodrigues 19th overall, with Buhler in 20th. Harith Noah currently stands in 39th position.

The cars category saw Toyota's Giniel de Villiers comeback from a very difficult run of previous stages to take the stage win, 58 seconds ahead of Brian Baragwanath (Century Racing) with Stephane Peterhansel (X-Raid Mini JCW) rounding off the top three. Despite not winning a stage so far, Stephane Peterhansel's consistency has helped him extend his overall lead to Toyota's Nasser Al-Attiyah and teammate Carlos Sainz.

Topsy turvy results continued to its theme in the bikes category, with Kevin Benavides (Monster Energy Honda) taking the stage win ahead of teammate Jose Ignacio Cornejo and Toby Price (KTM). This result makes Kevin Benavides the sixth different leader of the overall bikes category with former leader Xavier de Soultrait second, and teammate Jose Ignacio Cornejo rounding off the top three.

In the truck category, Andrey Karginov (Kamaz) claimed his first stage win of the rally over Aliaksei Vishneuski (Maz-Sportauto), with teammate Dmitry Sotnikov third in the end. Dmitry Sotnikov continues to lead the overall standings, with teammate Anton Shibalov second and Martin Macik (Big Shock Racing) in third position.

Stage 6 will cover 618km from Al Qaisumah to Ha'il, with 448km of it being a special stage. After that will be a rest day before racing action resumes on January 10 with stage 7.