X-raid Mini’s Guillaume de Mevius claimed a dramatic victory in Dakar Rally 2026 Stage 1, edging out Nasser Al-Attiyah by just 40 seconds in a thrilling finale, while KTM’s Edgar Canet continued dominating the bike category.
The 305-kilometer special stage tested competitors with a brutal mix of rocky terrain, narrow passes, jagged rock gardens, sand dunes, and technical rocky sections in the closing kilometers, setting a punishing tone for the 48th edition of the world’s toughest rally raid event.
De Mevius, navigating with co-driver Mathieu Baumel, overcame a transponder malfunction that temporarily erased him from the live leaderboard, allowing him to surge ahead in the final 45 kilometers where early leader Ekstrom faltered dramatically.
Ford’s Mattias Ekstrom and co-driver Emil Bergkvist dominated the early running, topping the times at the second checkpoint at 70 kilometers and went on to build a lead exceeding one minute through the mid-stage rocky and sandy sectors.
Guillaume de Mevius shadowed closely, sitting just 53 seconds off the pace with around 120 kilometers remaining, but his disappearance from tracking due to the technical glitch masked his steady progress.
Meanwhile, Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah paired with Fabian Lurquin in the innovative Dacia Sandriders entry recovered from a sluggish start outside the top 10 at the first checkpoint to climb into contention, showcasing the five-time world rally raid champion’s trademark resilience.
As the route transitioned into the decisive final stretch of dunes, sand, and rocks, Ekstrom’s Ford Raptor T1+ began to lose ground rapidly, compounded by a 10-second speeding penalty that dropped him to fourth overall.
This opened the door for de Mevius to pounce, crossing the line in 3:07:49 to secure X-Raid Mini’s second consecutive stage 1 win, making a strong statement in the Ultimate car category.
Al-Attiyah capitalized brilliantly to finish second just 40 seconds adrift, while Czech driver Martin Prokop with Viktor Chytka in their Orlen Jipocar Ford Raptor took third, 1m27s down, rounding out a podium featuring three different manufacturers—Mini, Dacia, and Ford.
Dakar Rally 2026 Stage 1 Results: Top 10 performers in each category
Ekstrom held on for fourth at 1m38s back, tied on time with fifth-placed Marek Goczal and Maciej Marton in the Energylandia Racing Toyota Hilux, highlighting the Polish squad’s rising prowess.
Four-time Dakar Rally winner Carlos Sainz Sr. steering the factory Ford alongside Lucas Cruz, showed flashes of his pedigree by running as high as third mid-stage but slipped to sixth, 1m54s off the winner’s pace amid the late chaos.
South Africa’s Guy Botterill and Oriol Mena followed in seventh for Toyota Gazoo Racing SA, just three seconds ahead of Ford’s Nani Roma and Alex Haro in eighth with Mitch Guthrie and Kellon Walch taking ninth in the sister Ford Raptor T1+, demonstrating the American marque’s depth with five cars in the top 10.
Sebastien Loeb alongside Edouard Boulanger in the second Dacia Sandriders car, endured a frustrating day, hemorrhaging over three minutes to finish 10th after being Ekstrom’s early challenger.
Factory Toyota efforts struggled notably, with Toby Price leading their trio in 16th after opening the road in sandy conditions, followed by Henk Lategan in 17th and Seth Quintero in 18th, the latter hit with a two-minute speeding penalty.
Reigning Dakar champion Yazeed Al-Rajhi faced a nightmare in his Overdrive Toyota, dropping 12 minutes on pace alone before a massive 16-minute penalty for missing a waypoint and speeding relegated him outside the top 20, underscoring the high stakes of even minor errors in the desert.
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Bikes: Edgar Canet makes history with Stage 1 win
Shifting to the bikes, Edgar Canet continued his dream debut by dominating Stage 1 just a day after winning the prologue on the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing machine, etching his name further into Dakar lore as the youngest stage winner in bike history.
Opting to start near the back of the lead group thanks to his prologue triumph—which secured first road position choice—Canet attacked relentlessly through the 305-kilometer special, quickest to the first checkpoint at 28 kilometers and holding top-three pace to kilometer 260 before unleashing a flawless final push.
The young Spaniard’s maturity shone in the brutal opening rock gardens and narrow passes, minimizing errors to clock 3:27:42 (times varying slightly by source but consistent in margins), winning by over a minute and seizing the provisional overall lead.
Canet’s KTM teammate Daniel Sanders shadowed closely to take second, 1m05s behind, locking out a KTM 1-2 and building on his prologue runner-up spot three seconds adrift.
American Ricky Brabec on Honda grabbed third, 1m32s down, while Spaniard Tosha Schareina on Monster Energy Honda HRC slotted into fourth.
Luciano Benavides, starting 13th on his Red Bull KTM, rode conservatively through the technical terrain to claim fifth, positioning well without undue risks for the longer stages ahead.
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Dakar Rally 2026 Prologue: Mattias Ekstrom leads Ford 1-2 in cars, Edgar Canet tops in bikes
