Kevin Gallas’ Tuesday went from having plenty of fun going through the pistes to extracting water from his motorcycle.

Stage 2 of the Carta Rallye, a 493-kilometer run from Icht to M’Hamid, was neutralized after the final refuel point due to a massive river crossing that many riders struggled to get through. Gallas, who ultimately set the fastest time, quipped it was “too crazy” and that he “almost drowned the bike twice.”

Until reaching the river, Gallas had been running behind the leaders like Stage 1 winner Benjamin Melot, Martin Ventura, and fellow Yamaha Ténéré riders Gautier Paulin and Alessandro Botturi. It didn’t take long for him to realize why they were grouped up.

“I saw them and I was like, ‘Oh, cool!’,” he began. “I saw them stuck in a river and I tried to go through. It was super deep and my bike caught a little bit of water and it was not running well. They helped me pull my bike out. I helped them and then we all helped each other and we tried to find a way.

“Benji’s bike died, we waited with him a little bit, we couldn’t help him. We tried to go on, but there was so much water on the track. You’re supposed to follow a river, but the river is a river so you cannot go. It’s too deep.

“We decided, ‘Okay, it’s not possible.’ We called the organization, they canceled the stage after refuel, so everything was for nothing. But we have the memories and the videos, so it’s all good.”

With the rest of the stage called off, Gallas ended up being the fastest rider as the only one with a sub-three hour time. Paulin was second at 3:00:06 to complete a Yamaha Ténéré 1–2, followed by Ventura and Melot.

The winner had a good time in the stage prior to things going awry. Gallas described it as having “fun navigation, really fast, not too rocky and just flowing. There were so many jumps and bumps and the bike gets weightless all the time. I enjoyed so much. It was really nice.”

As he did on Monday, Simon Vitse won the second stage for cars with two minutes on Jérôme Cambier.

Stage 2 winners

Moto

Class	Overall	Number	Competitor	Team	Total Time
Up to 450cc	3	84	Martim Ventura	Old Friends Rally Team	3:06:14
Over 450cc	1	71	Kevin Gallas	Ténéré Spirit Experience	2:57:52
Quad	25	45	Alexis Varagne	Dragon Racing	4:08:20

Auto

Class	Overall	Number	Competitor	Team	Total Time
Ultimate	1	101	Simon Vitse	Team Vitse	2:29:37
2WD	2	102	Jérôme Cambier	Team Vitse	2:31:08
4×4	35	107	Bernard Andrieux	Modulauto	4:01:31
SSV Open	4	201	Hugues Lacam	Speed Up	2:51:00
SSV Series	7	210	David Casteu	Casteu Trophy	3:02:54

Leaders after Stage 2

Moto

Class	Overall	Number	Competitor	Team	Total Time
Up to 450cc	2	84	Martim Ventura	Old Friends Rally Team	6:48:03
Over 450cc	1	21	Gautier Paulin	Yamaha Ténéré World Raid Team	6:48:03
Quad	30	45	Alexis Varagne	Dragon Racing	11:09:42

Auto

Class	Overall	Number	Competitor	Team	Total Time
Ultimate	1	101	Simon Vitse	Team Vitse	5:54:43
2WD	2	102	Jérôme Cambier	Team Vitse	6:44:28
4×4	35	230	Mantas Bernickis	BRO Racing	10:11:02
SSV Open	3	201	Hugues Lacam	Speed Up	6:55:57
SSV Series	12	210	David Casteu	Casteu Trophy	7:20:03

Featured image credit: Actiongraphers