Stage 1 Bisha ↔

The first short stage of this rally takes place nearby Bisha and is the first day of racing.

ℹ️ Stage 1 Route info ℹ️

The first contests on this year’s edition of the Dakar took place at the gateway to the city of Bisha, on a terrain with a sequence of sandy tracks. Over 29 kilometres without navigation difficulties, the riders and drivers most comfortable with slaloming between the bushes took command of the race.

📝 Press releases 📝

Aleš Loprais Claims Second in First Stage Dakar Rally

BISHA – Aleš Loprais finished the first stage of the 47th Dakar Rally in second place. The Czech rider from the Instatrade Loprais Team de Rooy FPT finished behind Mitchel van den Brink, who completed the stage around Bisha 1:40 ahead. Vaidotas Žala was fifth and Anja van Loon 11th.

“It was a very intense stage. It had everything; it was really technical: left, right, jumps and dips. We broke a window and the mirrors. The navigation was tricky, too. But we are second, which is very good for tomorrow”, said Loprais shortly after the finish in Bisha.

The next stage is a 48-hour event. The special, which also starts and finishes in Bisha, is 967 kilometers long and does not end until Monday. Loprais: “We will try to be as consistent and fast as possible, but we also have to be careful about safety because it will be challenging. We have no service on Sunday, so I plan to push in the second part of the stage.”

605 Skuba Team de Rooy FPT

The first stage was less successful for Vaidotas Žala. The Skuba Team de Rooy FPT driver had a difficult day in his Iveco Powerstar in the Saudi desert. “It was a bit of a disaster”, he described the drive.

“In the beginning, it went well, but later, we got a lot of junk in the radiator. The engine started to overheat, and we lost power.”

“Unfortunately, when you lose power, you lose concentration because your attention is elsewhere. We had to deal with one problem after another. For example, we hit a big branch, and the left front tire went flat.”

Vaidotas Žala

Paulo Fiuza

Max van Grol

“My navigator (David Křípal) couldn’t see anything and a slower competitor passed us. We were also lost for a long time. But the most important thing is that we made it to the finish. We lost twenty minutes today, but for the Dakar, this is not a big problem.”

Hard day for Anja, Ben and Jan

Anja van Loon also had her problems in the first stage. The Fried van de Laar Racing Team De Rooy FPT driver described the stage as ‘extremely challenging’. “There were a lot of stones, very short corners, rocks”, said the Dutch driver.