Australian Daniel Sanders has had his motorcycle lead in the Dakar Rally cut by over three minutes but was adamant it was all part of his grand plan to earn a rare wire-to-wire triumph.
Following the rest day, 30-year-old Sanders, who's seeking to become the first bike rider for 16 years to lead from start to finish in the great race, began the second week by taking things a bit easier in stage six from Ha'il to Al Duwadimi on Saturday.
He had half an eye on a potentially brutal Sunday and didn't push as hard as he could have on his Red Bull KTM, wanting to secure a good starting spot in stage seven, considered one of the defining circuits of the race around Al Duwadimi, a 412km slog with hugely difficult navigation and some mountain racing.
Sanders ended up finishing ninth on Saturday, and lost time to his main pursuers, led by stage winner Ricky Brabec, the American defending champion who has now moved up to fourth place overall, 23:18 behind the Australian.
Sanders' lead over Spain's second-placed Tosha Schareina, one of four Monster Energy Honda riders on his tail, has been cut from 15:02 to 11:46, with Adrien Van Beveren now third at 19:11 after finishing second on the day.Â
Sanders expects to regain time tomorrow by following his main rivals' tracks.
"I got off to a bit of a rough start, getting a little bit lost at the beginning and just trying to get back into the rhythm after the rest day," he admitted.
"But, yeah, it was important not to go too good today because I think tomorrow's a difficult stage, so I didn't want to push and get up the front.Â
"So, hopefully we're in a good starting position for tomorrow and we'll be back in the rhythm."
The pitfalls ahead remain obvious, though, with another seven bike racers having been forced to withdraw on Saturday, headed by Botswanan world champion Ross Branch, who crashed at the 48km mark, and Argentine two-time winner Kevin Benavides.
Brabec even called for help for the stricken Branch before going on his way.
In the car race, Henk Lategan's overall lead was cut to 7:16 as Yazeed Al-Rajhi closed the gap to the South African despite issues with his car, while Mini's Guillaume de Mevius and Joao Ferreira were the first two home on the stage.
Australian Toby Price, a two-time motorcycle winner, is 24th overall in his Toyota.
