Nicolás Cavigliasso only made it 83 kilometers into the opening stage before his lead in the W2RC’s Challenger standings was metaphorically and literally turned upside down.

Any advantage that Cavigliasso got from winning his class at the Dakar Rally—a 21-point margin on Gonçalo Guerreiro and 32 over Pau Navarro—is already in trouble when his Taurus rolled at KM 83. He and navigator Valentina Pertegarini were unharmed. Marcos Baumgart stopped to help, for which he got some time removed from his stage result as he finished fifth in Challenger.

Whereas Guerreiro is not doing the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, Navarro has a golden opportunity to slice down his deficit. Winning the class overall would net 30 points, while he can accumulate up to five points per day if he finishes each stage in the top five. A third on Sunday already gets him three points. Cavigliasso can also salvage his race through stage points if he is able to rejoin.

Edgar Canet does not have that same benefit because the FIM does not award stage points and his accident resulted in injury. Like Cavigliasso, Canet won Dakar in Rally2 but crashed on Sunday due to a broken dune and fractured his elbow. He managed to reach the finish, impressively second in class too, but the pain was too much for him to continue.

“Everything was going really well, the stage was going smoothly, and I had a great rhythm from the start and riding very comfortably. Unfortunately, I ended up with a small fracture in my elbow, so we’ll have to withdraw from this race,” Canet explained. “It’s the first time I’ve had to abandon a race. It’s not a good feeling, especially on the first day, but oh well.

“I was able to finish sixth overall, happy with that, but it’s a shame not to be able to continue the rally.”

Tobias Ebster (trailing by eight points), Michael Docherty (21 points), and Konrad Dąbrowski (24 points) will now see if they can seize the Rally2 points lead for themselves. Docherty has impressed so far, keeping pace with RallyGP for much of Stage #1 before falling a bit and settling for fourth. Combined with winning his class on Saturday, he is over ten minutes ahead of his fellow championship rivals.

Dąbrowski sits second following Canet’s retirement and 10:05 behind Docherty. Ebster is six seconds back of Dąbrowski, finishing third and beating Dąbrowski by ten seconds despite the gearbox malfunctioning 25 kilometers in such that he had to ride while the bike shifted on its own.

Abdulaziz Ahli’s quest for a fifth straight ADDC Quad win got back on the right track when he beat Antanas Kanopkinas by 16 and a half minutes. He had finished last in class in the Prologue due to a navigation error but now leads the overall with a 14:16 gap.

Tosha Schareina won the stage for bikes in a Honda 1–2 finish with Ricky Brabec 1:54 back. On the other hand, the FIA top five alternated between Toyotas and Dacias as Lucas Moraes beat Sébastien Loeb by a minute and his Toyota Gazoo teammate Seth Quintero by double, followed by the Sandrider of Nasser Al-Attiyah and Hilux of Saood Variawa.

With Cavigliasso out, Dania Akeel scored her second stage win of 2025 in Challenger. Jeremías González Ferioli was the only FIA Prologue winner to also lead Stage #1 with seven minutes on Mansour Al-Helei.

While Canet and Cavigliasso headlined the retirements, other DNFs included Marek Goczał’s Ultimate debut being ruined by a gearbox failure and Marcin Talaga’s crash. Talaga was racing a backup bike since his usual ride is stuck on a ship heading to the race.

The gearbox gave out on Goczał’s Hilux at KM 160 before catching fire, though the Hilux basically extinguished itself afterward when the hoses burst and sprayed fluid onto the flames. After returning to the bivouac, his team successfully got the gearbox replaced past midnight and he will start Stage #2, albeit no longer in contention for the win.

Rally2 rider Martin Chalmers had his rear tire come apart 20 kilometers into the road section after finishing 18th in the stage. Classmate Hamdan Al-Ali, who was tenth, stopped to help out by using zip ties to hold the tire to the rim. Alex McInnes finished a spot ahead of Al-Ali despite his fuel pump selector switch breaking after 40 km; he used a wire to work around the switch.

Fuel pump issues also plagued Justin Gerlach’s day. A wire in the pump got torn off, causing his bike to stop on the liaison when he tried to switch to the rear tank to balance the weight. After twisting the cable back into place and taping it up, he joined the Selective Section 45 minutes after the last rider (for which he got a one-hour penalty). The pump switch was replaced in the evening.

“At Dakar, I never had to work on my bike on track,” Gerlach quipped.

Dakar aspirant Carl Searles’ navigation equipment malfunctioned after roughly 35 km, so he followed the tracks until he caught another bike and followed them to the finish. His brother Craig waited for him in the neutralization zone even though it cost him time.

Miroslav Zapletal received a one-minute penalty for exceeding the turbocharger boost limit thrice.

Stage #1 winners

FIA

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Time
Ultimate	1	203	Lucas Moraes	Toyota Gazoo Racing	2:57:34
Challenger	16	310	Dania Akeel	BBR Motorsport	3:10:21
SSV	18	415	Jeremías González Ferioli*	Can-Am Factory Team	3:12:38

FIM

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Time
RallyGP	1	68	Tosha Schareina	Monster Energy Honda HRC	2:54:00
Rally2	4	22	Michael Docherty	SRG Motorsports	2:58:55
Quad	17	174	Abdulaziz Ahli	Abu Dhabi Team	3:36:51

Leaders after Stage #1

FIA

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Time
Ultimate	1	203	Lucas Moraes	Toyota Gazoo Racing	2:57:34
Challenger	16	310	Dania Akeel	BBR Motorsport	3:10:21
SSV	18	415	Jeremías González Ferioli*	Can-Am Factory Team	3:12:38

FIM

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Time
RallyGP	1	68	Tosha Schareina	Monster Energy Honda HRC	3:00:53
Rally2	4	22	Michael Docherty	SRG Motorsports	3:06:28
Quad	18	174	Abdulaziz Ahli	Abu Dhabi Team	3:50:42

Featured image credit: Kin Marcin / Red Bull Content Pool