Fresh off signing a multi-year contract extension with KTM, Luciano Benavides got the ball rolling on home soil by topping the Desafío Ruta 40 Prologue on Sunday.

The nine-kilometer leg began with four kilos in a dry and wide-open riverbed outside San Juan before going into a technical and narrow gravel section. Benavides beat Ricky Brabec and Tosha Schareina by just .80 and 1.9 seconds, respectively.

Despite its short length, the windy technical part included what Honda manager Ruben Faria noted were “two or three tricky notes in the roadbook that caught a few riders out”. Brabec called the second half a “big, fast, wide open piste”.

“Luciano is Argentinian, so he knows this terrain very well and after winning this year’s Dakar,” said Faria. “Everyone knows how strong he is.”

Honda teammates Skyler Howes and Adrien Van Beveren were among those who slipped up. At KM 1, Howes was going along a river when he came across a several forks and chose the wrong one to continue down. Even then, he still finished sixth overall and fifth for RallyGP, beating Benavides’ teammate Daniel Sanders by three seconds. Van Beveren found himself confused by two notes, one of which sent him “really far right on the riverbed” for a hundred meters.

Others struggled because of the large contingent of riders in such tight confines. Bruno Crivilin was the 26th rider on course and 14th for Rally2, which proved difficult to see in front of him as he placed seventh in class for the day. Ryan Nariño had what he called a “brain fart” by cutting the route at KM 2. The Sonora Rally Dakar Dreams winner was 31st for Rally2.

Antanas Kanopkinas was anything but pleased with his outing as the W2RC Quad regular finished an unusually poor seventh in class.

“The first kilometers hit hard and showed their true character. This competition is not only about speed, but also navigation,” he began. “Already in the second kilometer, I drifted slightly off course but only lost a dozen seconds or so. In another place, I simply went the wrong way and it took me some time to get back onto the track.

“Looking for the bright side of the result, I’ll start from the back tomorrow, which means there will be plenty of dust ahead to show the way. Of course, riding in dust is not enjoyable, but maybe I’ll make fewer navigation mistakes. It seems that navigation errors will cost everyone here, and they will cost a lot.”

Stage winners

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
RallyGP	1	77	Luciano Benavides	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	4:56.5
Rally2	4	84	Martim Ventura	Monster Energy Honda HRC	5:06.7
Rally3	46	79	Murun Purevdorj	Xraids Experience	7:22.6
Quad	28	178	Tobías Carrizo	MED Racing Team	6:22.5

Featured image credit: Irina Petrichei / Edophoto / DPPI / ASO