Dakar Bikes Stage 8

2025 Dakar Rally Results Stage 8

Luciano Benavides (KTM) took the Stage 8 win, his first triumph of the Dakar this year after his Stage 5 win was awarded to Van Beveren when time was awarded back. The Argentinian took P1 after being awarded back time after he helped Chelan Pablo Quintanilla (Honda), who crashed out of the race at kilometer 133 and damaged his shoulder.

Benavides headed home Quintanilla’s teammate Adrien Van Beveren, who also came to Quintanilla’s aid, the Frenchman banking another stage podium as the race heads into the final three days of racing this week.

Benavides finally got his stage win at the eighth time of asking.

“It’s never easy to see a fellow rider crash, so Adrien [Van Beveren] and I stopped to help Pablo [Quintanilla] and we stayed with him for about 30 minutes,” said Benavides. “After we restarted, it was difficult because the crash is always playing on your mind, but you have to just keep going. Despite having to ride in the dust from many riders and make several overtakes, I pushed really hard, and it paid off with my first stage win of the race, which is amazing!”

Tosha Schareina (Honda) produced another podium in third, the young Spaniard proving to be the most consistent podium finisher in the 2025 Dakar Rally as he consolidates second overall.

For Daniel Sanders (KTM), it was a damage limitation day as the Australian led out after winning Stage 7, dropping a little over four minutes to Schareina in the overall standings with his ride to seventh on the day.

“That might have been the toughest stage yet, especially the first 100 kilometers, which were really technical and hard to navigate, so I lost a fair bit of time there,” Sanders said. “After the refuel it was really fast and I was opening with Edgar [Canet], which was cool. I made a few little mistakes here and there, but I have a decent starting position for tomorrow so I’m happy.”

Fourth on Stage 8 was Ricky Brabec (Honda) from his teammate, compatriot Skyler Howes, with South Africa’s Michael Docherty (KTM) in sixth. Rounding out the stage’s top 10 was Sanders, Rally 2 winner and class leader Edgar Canet (KTM), Nacho Cornejo (Hero) and Rui Goncalves (Sherco).

Jacob Argubright (Honda) had a better ride today, no mechanical issues meaning the American took 20^th on the stage to move up to 23^rd overall.