Another day, another promising ride at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge from Daniel Sanders! Opening the stage today, thanks to his winning result on day three, the Aussie star did an excellent job, losing the minimum amount of time to the chasing pack. Ultimately completing the stage in fourth, he maintains his runner-up position in the provisional overall rally standings.
Daniel Sanders: “Day four and I got to open today, which was really cool! Walkner caught me at about 100 kilometers, just before the refueling, but I was happy with how things went for the time I was out front. I didn’t make any big mistakes and the pace was good, so that’s really encouraging. The second half of the stage opened out into some faster tracks, which I really enjoyed, so that was cool. All-in-all it was a really good day. I’m in a good position to push again tomorrow and hopefully I can finish off the rally with a top result.”
Still in only his first full year of FIM Cross-Country Rallies competition, Daniel put in a fast, mature ride from the front of day four, doing exactly what was required to ultimately secure a top-four placing and successfully defend his second-place position in the overall standings.
Completing the stage in fourth, Daniel lost less than three minutes on the rally leader and will now enjoy an advantageous start position for Thursday’s stage five. Holding a near one-minute lead over the third-placed rider, the pressure is still on, and Sanders will need to deliver a solid ride on the event’s final day to ensure a runner-up-or-better result when he reaches the checkered flag.
The 379.86 kilometer final stage of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge will test riders once again with a mixture of open sand dunes and fast tracks on a timed special of 216.92km, with competitors ultimately returning to the event finish at the famous Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi.
Results (provisional): Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge 2021, stage 4
1. Adrien Van Beveren (Yamaha) 3:10:02
2. Matthias Walkner (KTM) 3:10:56
3. Joaquim Rodrigues (Hero) 3:13:00
4. Daniel Sanders (GASGAS) 3:13:48
Overall Provisional Classification (after stage 4)
1. Matthias Walkner (KTM) 15:05:20
2. Daniel Sanders (GASGAS) 15:09:10
3. Adrien Van Beveren (Yamaha) 15:10:06