Nine things you need to know about the 2021 Dakar Rally

Six different riders shared wins over the 2021 Dakar Rally’s 12 gruelling stages and Kevin Benavides came out on top. This is everything you need to know

The 2021 Dakar Rally saw the famous race return to Saudi Arabia for the second year. New rules and an amended route made it one of the trickier editions in recent memory, but it did't stop Honda defending its 2020 crown - a title that it waited 18 years to win. Here is everything you need to know about the 2021 Dakar Rally:

1. Honda has found its Dakar mojo

The Monster Energy Honda team celebrates its Dakar heroics

Monster Energy Honda's defending champ Ricky Brabec started strong winning the prologue and, despite dropping from second overall to 15th after the third stage, added three more stage wins to his 2021 campaign to end the rally in runner-up position. Joan Barreda Bort just might be the Dakar’s unluckiest talent; the Spaniard celebrated three stage victories to take his tally to 27, however the overall win once again eluded him when the effects of a crash a couple of days earlier meant he missed a compulsory refuelling point on the penultimate stage and ground to a halt. He requested medical assistance and was airlifted out of the race.

Joan Barreda Bort was unlucky in the 2021 Dakar Rally

Chilean rider José Ignacio Cornejo Florimo had a comfortable 11m20s lead heading into the 10th stage of the 12-stage race after Aussie Toby Price crashed out of contention. Admitting his new-found lead was distracting, the 26-year-old suffered a crash during the 10th stage and, while he eventually made it to the finish line, he’d suffered a concussion which ruled him out of the race.

Kevin Benavides was the 2021 Dakar Rally champ

In the end, it was Argentina’s Kevin Benavides who celebrated in 2021, becoming South America’s first-ever Dakar winner. It wasn’t without its dramas – the 32-year-old crashed on the fifth stage, breaking his helmet, GPS unit and nose, as well as injuring his ankle in the process. He won the stage despite this and, with just one more stage win (Stage 9), his consistency was enough to hand him off-road racing’s most coveted trophy.

2. This year’s event was harder – and safer – than before

This years Dakar Rally was trickier than ever before thanks to new rules

This year’s route was far more physically demanding than the 2020 event and the navigation also more difficult. Rules that were added to the book in 2021 included that roadbooks were issued 20 minutes before the start of the stage, a limited allocation of six tyres, mandatory airbag jackets, and controversial speed limits in sections organisers deemed the most dangerous.

3. Toby Price crashed out of winning position

Toby Price was in a great position early on in the race

The two-time Dakar winner may not have been leading the Rally when he crashed out of the 2021 event, but he was in the perfect position to lift the winner’s trophy if he played his cards right. After winning the first and third stages, the Red Bull KTM rider found himself leading the race ahead of the two marathon stages (Stages 7 and 8), which forbid any assistance from teams or mechanics. Price finished the seventh stage with a gash in the sidewall of his rear tyre and, with no provision to change it, had to make do with gaffer tape and cables ties and hope it would survive the following day’s 709km distance.

The KTM rider couldn't add another podium to the list in 2021

Remarkably it did and, despite the Aussie having to nurse the tyre the entire distance, he finished the stage in second place and started the following day just 1m17s down on Honda’s Jose Cornejo. The difficulty of this year’s event meant no one wanted to open the road of a morning. It was far better to finish in the top five in order to have the best chance of not losing time the following day. So with a brand-new tyre, a tiny deficit to a far less experienced rider leading the way and just four stages of the 2021 race left to run, Toby Price was perfectly poised to capitalise. Except the tough Saudi Arabian terrain added the Aussie to a growing list of DNFs, with his race ending in a broken collarbone and other injuries to the left-hand side of his body.

4. Daniel Sanders is rally-raid's next big thing

Daniel Sanders is already an enduro star, but he has a lot of potential in rally

Given the difficulty of this year’s Dakar Rally, Aussie rookie Daniel Sanders’ (KTM Factory) eventual fourth-place finish is nothing short of remarkable. He opened his Dakar account with a third-place finish in the Prologue less than one minute behind defending champ Ricky Brabec and six places and 36 seconds quicker than talented countryman Toby Price. From there he took the race in his stride and kept his composure to remain focused and consistent despite a handful of crashes and bee-sting to his lip, which became so swollen it was difficult for the Aussie to pull his helmet on. Sanders finished in the top 10 of all but two of the 12 stages, consistently beating some hugely experienced Dakar riders and ending the event as the second-highest KTM rider. Red Bull KTM’s Sam Sunderland and Matthias Walkner finished third and ninth respectively.

5. Price and Sanders are only half of the Australian story

Michael Burgess proudly flew the Australian flag

Sanders wasn’t the only Australian rookie celebrating a remarkable result. Caravan-park owner Michael Burgess achieved his dream of competing in and finishing Dakar this year in 27th place with his privateer outfit, the sixth-best placed rookie. With a best finish of 26th coming late in the race on Stage 10 and a worst finish of 45th early on in Stage 2, Burgess’s confidence and results improved with each day of experience. Ahead of the race, Burgess said: “The goal is first to finish and sacrifice everything just to get to the line. I know I can work my way through every situation despite my lack of road-book experience.” And that he did.

Andrew Houlihan finished the rally with a broken scaphoid

Aussie Andrew Houlihan was also tackling the Dakar Rally for the first time this year, two years after a horrific crash left him fighting for his life in a Greek hospital. The 51-year-old from Albury crashed on the third day and broke his scaphoid, but was determined to finish what he started. He battled on and, like Burgess, his results improved as the days passed by. An experienced international desert racer, Houlihan finished 97th in the prologue and improved to 45th by the 10th stage, eventually finishing Dakar 50th overall, and 17th in the rookie category. Despite the challenges of 2020, no less than 23 rookies finished the 2021 Dakar Rally.

6. Yamaha had a Dakar to forget

Yamaha's Ross Branch was out early in the race

After having already lost Franco Caimi, Andrew Short, Ross Branch and Jamie McCanney from Dakar’s proceedings due to technical issues, crashes and/or contaminated fuel, the Monster Energy Yamaha Rally Team copped the 15-minute penalty and fitted a new engine to Adrien Van Beveren’s bike to ensure it would see the 2021 finish line. But even that wasn’t to be. The new engine came ahead of the 10th stage, and it was just half an hour into the timed special on the 12th and final stage of the race when the Frenchman hit technical woes which eventually sidelined him, meaning no factory Yamaha finished the 2021 Dakar rally.

The events of 2020 compiled to rule out Yamaha’s Aussie Dakar veteran Rod Faggotter from this year’s event, though if his previous results are anything to go by, the Queenslander could well have been the factory’s highest-placed finisher had he lined up in 2021.

7. Lithuania’s Arunas Gelazninkas won the Original by Motul class

Arunas Gelazninkas won the grueling Original category

On just his third Dakar attempt, Zigmas KTM Dakar rider Arunas Gelazninkas claimed honours in the unassisted Original by Motul category (formally Mallee Moto) for 2021. Consistency was the name of the Lithuanian’s Dakar game this year, finishing no lower than 39th (Stage 1) and no higher than 22nd (Stage 11) to end the 14-day rally in 21st overall.

8. Four women started this year’s Dakar Rally

Laia Sanz finished despite suffering from illness before the race

Just one month after revealing she’s been battling Lyme disease, Spanish Dakar veteran Laia Sanz (GasGas) completed her 11th consecutive Dakar Rally, this time finishing in 17th place. She dug deep to keep her stellar finishing record in place, collapsing into tears of relief when she finally reached the finish line in Jeddah on the final day with her best stage finish of 19th. “Who would have thought one month ago that I would be here finishing my 11th Dakar in a row and in 17th place,” she said.

The GasGas rider finished her 11th Dakar Rally

Spain’s Sara Garcia completed her third Dakar Rally, this year in the Original by Motul category riding Yamaha machinery, and she finished 12th in her category and 44th overall. French rider Audrey Rossat entered the 2021 event as a rookie and finished 59th overall and the 21st best-placed rookie, while compatriot and fellow-rookie Sara Jugla withdrew during the ninth stage of the race.

9. Joaquim Rodrigues may be the year’s gutsiest rider

Joaquim Rodrigues raced for his fallen brother-in-law, Paulo Goncalves

Despite vowing never to race Dakar again, the brother-in-law of Paulo Goncalves, who lost his life while competing in the Dakar Rally one year ago, lined up in the 2021 event to face the demons he’d been struggling since his family’s loss. “I’m doing it for Paulo, for my sister, my family and for myself,” he said. “I have my own battles to conquer.”

Riding for the Hero Motorsports Team and with no goals except to finish the race, Rodrigues said the toughest day was Stage 9, which marked the one-year anniversary of Paulo’s passing. “This morning I was crying until I started the race, it was a tough day for me, but I made it. This one’s for Paulo.” The Portuguese rider rode through his trauma to finish the rally in a remarkable 11th place.

Despite being the toughest edition of the Dakar Rally in many years, it looked as if the 43rd running of the gruelling event would be completed without a loss of life. Sadly, however, it was announced French rider Pierre Cherpin who crashed 178km into the seventh stage succumbed to his injuries four days later.