Sanders wins 48-hour stages at Dakar Rally

BISHA, Saudi Arabia: Saudi driver Yazeed Al Rajhi held on to his overnight lead to win the second stage of the Dakar 2025 rally on Monday, the fearsome ´48-hour Chrono´ while defending champion Carlos Sainz limped in 1h 30min behind.

The 43-year-old racing in his home country completed the 967km special stage, spread over two days, in 10h 56min 54sec, despite a 2min penalty for speeding. He was followed by South African Henk Lategan at 4min 16sec with Qatari Nasser Al Attiyah, who overtook Al Rahji briefly to hold the lead for 142k, finishing third.

"It was really, really hard. I feel like this is our tenth day on the Dakar," said Al Rajhi on his arrival at the bivouac of the rally, which began on Friday. "The navigation was very, very difficult in some places, due to the divots and dust. You needed a rocket, not a car to pass through them. It wasn´t easy."