The 2025 Dakar Rally’s Original by Motul win came down to the final stage, and perhaps some controversy.

Entering the final stage, Benjamin Melot led Emanuel Gyenes by just one minute. While the last day only featured 61 kilometers in timed sections, neither rider could afford a misstep with how close the margin was.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened to Melot, though he feels he was slighted on the last day. While navigating Stage #12, one of the waypoints was not validated as he crossed it, forcing him to go back and find it before continuing. This caused him to finish with a stage time of 10 minutes and 44 seconds, well after Gyenes’ 6:39 and costing him the overall.

“I’m not tired. I’m fine, but I don’t understand,” he told L’Équipe after the race. “It’s hard to get to this point, to have everything come together, I had the thing in my hands. It’s the hardest (Dakar) I’ve ever done, but this was the biggest hit of the show. I’m crushed.”

Melot and Gyenes had traded the Malle Moto lead throughout the race, respectively winning four and five stages; Gyenes also claimed the Prologue. The latter had won the class in 2020 before he and Melot were required to move to the broader Rally2 class for 2023 and 2024. Under the old restrictions, riders who finished top 30 among all bikes and former Malle Moto winners over the past two years were not allowed to return to the class, though they could still race solo.

“We had a tough rally with so many mornings starting at low temperatures, the new tire rule, and all that Saudi Arabia terrain threw at us,” wrote Gyenes. “The duel with @benjimelot made this rally the most intense I had since racing the Dakar.

“Congrats, Benji, you are a very strong rider, and your speed in the dunes is for sure something I wish for!”

Nearly an hour and a half behind Gyenes and Melot, Jaromír Romančík joined them on the podium in his Malle Moto debut. Romančík had called the class, which forbids assistance from teams unlike Rally2, the “real Dakar” and “probably the cheapest option for me” after retiring from the 2024 race.

With the loosened eligibility rules, others like sixth-placed Javi Vega also returned to Original by Motul. Vega was forced to run the 2024 Dakar in Rally2 after finishing 30th in 2023, though he still took part without a crew.

Good friends Ottavio Missoni and Cesare Zacchetti returned to Dakar under the Kove Italia Lucky Explorer banner. The latter was knocked out by mechanical issues, while Missoni was 14th in class in his first Dakar since 2023.

Dakar newcomer Damien Bataller placed ahead of Missoni. Despite not speaking English, he reached the finish with the help of riders like the German Justin Gerlach, who stayed with him and rode together ot the Stage #6 finish ater Bataller’s rear fuel tank broke.

“It’s a good thing I can still speak a few words of French from my school days,” quipped Gerlach.

Overall results

Finish	Rally2	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Time	Margin
1	10	20	34	Emanuel Gyenes	Autonet Motorcycle Team	58:25:42	Leader
2	11	21	39	Benjamin Melot	Esprit KTM	58:28:47	+ 3:05
3	14	24	97	Jaromír Romančík	Orion – Moto Racing Group	59:53:25	+ 1:27:43
4	16	26	25	Jérôme Martiny	Anquety Motorsport	60:16:52	+ 1:51:10
5	21	31	91	Mike Wiedemann	Mike Wiedemann	62:43:35	+ 4:17:53
6	24	34	99	Javi Vega	Pont Grup	64:40:23	+ 6:14:41
7	26	36	48	David Pabiška	SP Moto Bohemia	65:19:55	+ 6:54:13
8	29	39	63	Jérémie Gerber	TLD Racing	66:33:55	+ 8:08:13
9	32	42	82	Andrea Winkler	Motoclub Yashica	68:03:55	+ 9:38:13
10	36	46	93	Tiziano Internó	Rally POV	71:07:53	+ 12:42:11
11	43	53	84	Vasilis Boudros	DNA Air Filters Racing Team / Enduro Greece	76:00:55	+ 17:35:13
12	51	61	85	Manuel Lucchese	Team Rebel X	79:30:30	+ 21:04:48
13	62	72	125	Damien Bataller	Team DB Racing	95:55:42	+ 37:30:00
14	68	78	117	Ottavio Missoni Jr.	Kove Italia Lucky Explorer	103:49:43	+ 45:24:01
15	78	88	104	Simon Marčič	Team Marčič	223:07:17	+ 164:41:35
16	79	89	131	Ahmed Al-Jaber	Hleem	238:32:25	+ 180:06:43
DNF	DNF	DNF	27	Juan Puga	KTM JP1 Motorcycles	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	DNF	51	Rachid Al-Lal Lahadil	Melilla Ciudad Del Deporte La Salle	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	DNF	62	Andrew Houlihan	Nomadas Adventure	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	DNF	70	Mishal Alghuneim	Cloud Racing	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	DNF	74	Michael Jacobi	Môle Agri Forest / Magland Raceway	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	DNF	76	Stéphane Darques	Motorbike Off Road Adventures Lyberty	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	DNF	80	Abdulhalim Almogheera	Haleem	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	DNF	81	Cesare Zacchetti	Kove Italia Lucky Explorer	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	DNF	101	Iader Giraldi	Zeranta	DNF	N/A

Stage winners

Stage	Winner	Time
Prologue	Emanuel Gyenes	19:02.9
Stage #1	Emanuel Gyenes	5:25:44
Stage #2	Benjamin Melot	12:26:42
Stage #3	Emanuel Gyenes	4:08:54
Stage #4	Jaromír Romančík	5:33:42
Stage #5	Jaromír Romančík	5:25:46
Stage #6	Benjamin Melot	5:24:12
Stage #7	Jaromír Romančík	4:30:47
Stage #8	Emanuel Gyenes	5:18:02
Stage #9	Emanuel Gyenes	3:33:14
Stage #10	Benjamin Melot	2:07:36
Stage #11	Benjamin Melot	2:27:30
Stage #12	Emanuel Gyenes	1:00:50

Featured image credit: Florent Gooden / DPPI