Daniel Sanders enters Dakar Rally's rest day still as leader of the pack — but Australia's defending motorcycle champion was mad with himself that his advantage wasn't far more substantial after an "emotional rollercoaster" of a day in the Saudi dunes.
The Red Bull KTM rider put on a virtuoso show in the race's first big sandy stage as he blitzed his main rivals in Friday's 326km run between Hail and the capital Riyadh.
But the usually cheery 'Chucky' ended up cutting a somewhat irritated figure as he recognised at the finish of stage six that he was going to be hit with a six-minute penalty for exceeding a designated speed limit.
The penalty cost him a second stage win of the week, as he was relegated from first to third on the day, with victory going to his nearest rival, Monster Energy Honda's Ricky Brabec, the American two-time winner who's now only 45 seconds behind Sanders instead of what should have been a 6:45 deficit.
It left Sanders scolding himself for another of the "silly mistakes" which he believes have disfigured the first week of his title defence.
"We should have a bigger lead in the overall," sighed the Victorian, who's over 10 minutes clear of third-placed Luciano Benavides. "I'm not happy with my first week. I should have done a lot better."
Perhaps having been carried away with his brilliant form, it was confirmed to Sanders on his arrival at the Riyadh bivouac that he had indeed been pinged for riding at 98 kph in a zone limited to 50 kph.
"It was an emotional rollercoaster all day. That penalty will set me back a bit.
"I just pushed as much as I could but it's hard to do good in the sand, especially opening. I did the best I could and I've got to stop making silly mistakes. I haven't pieced this first week together so well."
Still, the 31-year-old world champ looks in good shape to become the first Australian to win back-to-back Dakar titles, now able to enjoy a much needed rest before the second week of the gruelling event resumes on Sunday with another sandy 462km slog from Riyadh to Wadi ad-Dawasir.
Resuming in the lead of the cars race will be the Dakar legend, Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah, who won the sixth stage to take over at the top from South African rival Henk Lategan.
The 55-year-old five-time Dakar winner Al-Attiyah, in his Dacia Sandrider, turned an overnight deficit of more than three minutes into a 6:10 advantage, and continued an amazing record of having won a stage in each of the last 19 Dakars.
It was 49th stage win -- one off the record held jointly by Ari Vatanen and 'Mr Dakar' Stephane Peterhansel.
Australia's two-time time motorbike champion Toby Price enjoyed his best day yet in the cars category, finishing fourth on the stage in his Toyota, and is 15th overall.
