Click it and Unblock the Notifications
Dakar 2026 Prologue Stage Results: Edgar Canet Creates History & Mattias Ekstrom Wins Cars Category
The prologue stage of the 2026 Dakar rally saw Edgar Canet become the youngest-ever stage winner at the Dakar, leading a KTM 1-2-4, while Mattias Ekstrom took the stage win in the car's category, leading a Ford 1-2, as the 48th edition of the world's toughest rally-raid kicked off in the Saudi Arabia in the city of Yanbu on the Red Sea coast.
The Prologue stage of Dakar 2026 saw drivers and riders cover a 73-kilometre loop around Yanbu, which included a timed 23km long special stage. The day started off with the podium introducing the competitors before they headed into the desert sands around the city of Yanbu
Dakar 2026 Prologue Stage Results - Bikes
The Prologue stage in the bikes category of Dakar 2026 was won by Red Bull KTM Factory Racing's 20-year-old Spanish rider Edgar Canet become the youngest-ever stage winner at the Dakar Rally. Canet finished the timed special stage in 11 minutes and 31.9 seconds.
Canet's opening day heroics saw him edge out Defending Dakar Champion and KTM teammate, Daniel "Chucky" Sanders by just three seconds. Rounding off the podium was Honda's American rider Ricky Brabec, who ended the stage five seconds behind Canet after today's Prologue round.
Image Source: @rickybrabec on Instagram
KTM's Luciano Benavides took 4th spot, ending the day just 11 seconds behind Canet, while Ross Branch was the highest-ranked Hero rider in 5th place. Branch finished the stage 16 seconds behind Canet.
The other two Hero Motocorp factory riders at Dakar 2026, Austria's Tobias Ebster and Chile's "Nacho" Cornejo ended the day in 11th and 20th place respectively. Ebster ended the day 45 seconds off the pace set by Canet while Cornejo was one minute and five seconds behind the young Spanish sensation.
Image Source: @harithnoah8 on Instagram
Harith Noah, the TVS-sponsored Sherco rider from Kerala, who won the Rally2 category in 2024, ended the day, as the best of the Indian riders on the prologue stage of Dakar 2026, finishing in 37th place (one minute and 51 seconds behind). The other Indian rider at the Dakar, privateer Jatin Jain, ended the day in 114th place (out of 115 riders), eight minutes and 20 seconds off the pace.
Dakar 2025 Prologue Stage Results - Cars
The prologue stage of Dakar 2026 in the cars category was won by Ford's Mattias Ekstrom (Emil Bergkvist - Navigator) take the first-ever stage win of this year's race. The Swedish Driver blitzed the special stage with a time of 10 minutes, 48.7 seconds.
Ekstrom, ended the day eight seconds (10:56.1) ahead of his American teammate Mitch Guthrie (Kellon Walch - Navigator), while X-Raid's Belgian driver Guillaume De Mévius (Mathieu Baumel - Navigator) took the final podium spot of the Prologue Stage, ending the day with a time of 10 minutes 56.3 seconds.
Image Source: @guillaume.demevius on Instagram
Five-time Dakar champion, Nasser Al-Attiyah (Fabian Lurquin - Navigator), crossed the finish line with a time of 10 minus 56.6 seconds in his Dacia Sandrider. The top 5 in the cars category, was rounded off by Toyota Gazoo Racing's Seth Quintero (Andrew Short - Navigator), who ended the stage with a time of 11 minutes 02.2 seconds, 14 seconds off the pace set by Ford's Ekstrom. Defending champion, Saudi Arabia's Yazeed Al Rajhi (Timo Gottschalk - Navigator), ended the day in sixth place with a time 11 minutes 02.4 seconds.
Today's Prologue stage times will not count towards the general classification at the end of Dakar 2026. The top 10 finishers from today will be allowed to choose their starting spot for tomorrow's Stage 1, which will see competitors complete another 518km loop around Yanbu.
This includes a 305km long timed special stage, which will see riders and drivers tackle rough rock and sandy terrains. The stage will feature a pit stop halfway through, allowing competitors to refuel and repair their vehicles for the final charge back across the desert sands of Saudi Arabia.
Continue with Google