There’s no doubt about it: Daniel Sanders is the best rally raid rider today. Not like that was ever a question after his dominant championship run in 2025, but leading the Desafío Ruta 40 overall from Stages 1 to 5 certainly helped.

Sanders went into Argentina still riding the high of winning the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal. His last DR 40 in 2024 was a nondescript affair as he finished ninth overall in what was ultimately his final race for GasGas, after which Pierer consolidated GasGas and Husqvarna’s rally programs into KTM’s. Such a move has paid off tremendously for Sanders, who’s now won seven of the nine rallies since including the 2025 Dakar.

His teammate Luciano Benavides, who became his partner via Husqvarna, got the ball rolling by winning the Prologue just days after signing a contract extension with KTM. Sanders was a more modest seventh overall as he struggled to figure out the terrain.

Fortunately for the Aussie, it didn’t take long to get acclimated. He stomped the field afterward to win the first three stages, beating Tosha Schareina by 6:02 in Stage 1 before leading a KTM 1–2 finish with Benavides over the next two days. By the end of the third day, he had 13:36 on Schareina.

Schareina tried to close the gap in Stage 4 as the spearhead of a Honda podium sweep with Ricky Brabec and Skyler Howes. The latter held off Sanders for third by just six seconds, though Sanders was still up by 10:20 on Schareina going into the final stage.

Another stage win for Sanders sealed the victory.

“It’s been a really good week for us,” said Sanders. “To come away with another win after Dakar and Portugal is a huge boost, and taking over the championship lead makes it even more rewarding. I felt comfortable on the bike all week and the team did an incredible job. Of course, I always like to look back and find areas where I can improve because there are always things to work on, but overall it’s been a strong performance and a great result heading into the break.”

Save for a fall in Stage 1 while following Lorenzo Santolino in the dust, Schareina ran an error-free race. He just didn’t have enough juice to catch Sanders, not unlike when he settled for runner-up in Portugal.

He remains second in the standings, trailing Sanders by three points but has three points of his own on Benavides.

“I gave everything out there and pushed as hard as possible,” Schareina stated. “Of course, the goal is always to fight for the top step, so we need to keep working and improving to reach that first position.”

Brabec, despite being sick all week, held off Benavides for the last step on the overall podium. Despite the strong start with the Prologue win and second-place finishes to Sanders, Benavides was hampered by a “small crash” on the last day and a “few small mistakes” throughout the rally.

Howes was fifth to continue the KTM and Honda alternation. He admitted he was “riding a bit timid and a little too easy” at times, which could also be chalked up to a bruised thigh when he crashed in pre-race testing and sent the handlebars into his leg. The pattern is then broken by Adrien Van Beveren placing ahead of Edgar Canet.

Hero MotoSports had a challenging week lowlighted by their new Rally2 rider Michael Docherty crashing in the first stage. Things weren’t any easier on the RallyGP side as Ross Branch and José Ignacio Cornejo felt they couldn’t get into a proper rhythm. Cornejo also crashed in Stage 2.

Santolino rounded out the RallyGP finishers, covering for his teammate Bradley Cox crashing on the last day.

Romain Dumontier also retired after four stages. The two-time Dakar Rally2 winner and 2023 World Rally-Raid Champion in the class was making his RallyGP debut.

Results

Finish	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time	Margin
1	1	1	Daniel Sanders	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	15:58:04	Leader
2	2	68	Tosha Schareina	Monster Energy Honda HRC	16:10:13	+ 12:09
3	3	9	Ricky Brabec	Monster Energy Honda HRC	16:16:08	+ 18:04
4	4	77	Luciano Benavides	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	16:20:42	+ 22:38
5	5	10	Skyler Howes	Monster Energy Honda HRC	16:23:38	+ 25:34
6	6	42	Adrien Van Beveren	Monster Energy Honda HRC	16:33:52	+ 35:48
7	7	73	Edgar Canet	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	16:41:35	+ 43:31
8	9	46	Ross Branch	Hero MotoSports	16:54:02	+ 55:58
9	13	11	José Ignacio Cornejo	Hero MotoSports	17:19:38	+ 1:21:34
10	16	15	Lorenzo Santolino*	Sherco TVS Rally Factory	18:19:05	+ 2:21:01
DNF	DNF	7	Bradley Cox*	Sherco TVS Rally Factory	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	21	Romain Dumontier*	Dumontier Racing Team	DNF	N/A

Stage winners

Stage	Overall	Rider	Total Time
Prologue	1	Luciano Benavides	4:56.5
Stage 1	1	Daniel Sanders	3:35:12
Stage 2	1	Daniel Sanders	1:39:43
Stage 3	1	Daniel Sanders	4:16:30
Stage 4	1	Tosha Schareina	3:37:48
Stage 5	1	Daniel Sanders	2:40:19

Featured image credit: Kin Marcin / Red Bull Content Pool