The 2025 Dakar Rally completes stage four, the first half of a two-day, two-stage marathon where outside assistance is forbidden and riders have limited time to work on their bikes before sleeping on the ground in a group tent in the middle of the Saudi Arabian desert. 

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing's Daniel Sanders took the stage win today after yesterdays navigation equipment struggles. Organizers did award him around five minutes back to his time from yesterday, which closed the gap a bit he built for himself. But his impressive ride today put him back in the winner's circle and re-established himself as the front-runner of the rally. Monster Energy HRC Honda's Tosha Schareina was on the gas, as well, leading until the very end before pulling over for a couple minutes on purpose so he wouldn't have to lead tomorrow's stage.  He finished second, only 15 seconds back. Hero Motorsports Nacho Cornejo rounded out the stage podium under eight minutes behind the leader.

American's Ricky Brabec and Skyler Howes ran a fast pace opening the stage and minimized their time loss right up until the final 20km or so. There, Brabec and Howes, with Ross Branch in tow, made a crucial navigation mistake, costing them around 10 minutes on the day, a somewhat demoralizing finish to the first day of the marathon. However, the trio is far from out of the race as overall time gaps to the leader in the general standings are under 30-minutes - seemingly in reach for outright victory from any of these top riders - if they can catch Daniel Sanders. That's a big task.

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Dakar Rally Daily is produced and edited by Jesse Ziegler, and hosted by Quinn Cody and Jesse Ziegler.