Daniel Sanders has tiptoed back into the lead of the Dakar Rally, a magnificent outcome for Australia's defending champ after he'd been relieved to avoid a potential tyre-management calamity on the second part of the marathon stage to Hail in Saudi Arabia.
Even better news for Red Bull KTM's race favourite Sanders was that perhaps his biggest rival for the title, Honda's Tosha Schareina, had a woeful day and has dropped almost 12 minutes behind him into fourth place after stage five.
But Schareina's Monster Energy Honda teammate Ricky Brabec is still a huge threat to Sanders, as he lies only two minutes two seconds behind 'Chucky' in second place in the overall race standings.
With Saturday's rest day approaching, Sanders' teammate Luciano Benavides came alive after the riders had camped overnight after a challenging first part of the 48-hour marathon.
The Argentine moved into third overall by winning the 356km fifth stage, emulating the achievement of his brother Kevin, who was victorious on the stage into Hail two years earlier.
Hero's Ignacio Cornejo was second on the day, nearly four minutes behind, with Sanders' third place being enough for him to overturn his 1min 24sec overnight deficit and regain control at the top, an outcome that had seemed unlikely as he had to contend with cracked tyres.
"We had to actually manage the bike and the tyres a bit," said Sanders. "At the first refuel, I'd already lost a lot of time, and I looked at the tyres, and I knew that was going to be a problem, so we had to try and manage it.
"Got to the first refuel and the crack was getting bigger, so it was really important to not destroy the tyres. So I just took it easy in the middle part, and then just got through to the end, really.
"So, I'm just happy to not lose too much time and manage the situation, because it could have ended our race today."
Schareina, who'd been leading overnight on the same time as Brabec, was hit with a 10-minute penalty for forgetting to leave the bivouac between the flags.
📺 Flash News from Stage 5️⃣ of #Dakar2026, between the Bivouac Refuge and Hail.
— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 8, 2026
With his sixth Dakar win, Benavides delivers KTM's fourth victory of the 2026 edition in the Bike category.#DakarInSaudi pic.twitter.com/LVpmbIEk2s
Other contenders fared even worse. Sanders' young teammate Edgar Canet, the prologue and stage one winner, had to stop at 240km after the foam melted on his rear wheel. It cost him an hour and any chance of winning the race.
Former world champ Ross Branch suffered a similar calamity and is now an hour and 24 minutes behind.
Benavides was the star of the day, though, having overcome a high-speed crash early on Thursday to win his sixth Dakar stage and move six minutes behind Sanders overall.
In the cars race, American Mitch Guthrie took a second stage win in his Ford after Nani Roma, who thought he'd won by four seconds, received a 70-second penalty for speeding.
Henk Lategan, nearly 13 minutes behind the winner, held on to the overall lead in his Toyota.
