Dakar 2021: Carlos Sainz wins first stage

Bengaluru, January 4: Defending champion Carlos Sainz fired the first salvo by winning the opening stage of Dakar Rally 2021 as the toughest off-road race on the planet got well and truly underway in Saudia Arabia with the competitors covering the punishing 277km route.

Rising to the challenge was the Red Bull Desert Wings's Sainz, who brought all his off-road experience to the fore.

Despite suffering a puncture and also a navigational hiccup, it was the Spanish veteran who took the stage win and the top spot on the leaderboard.

"There was a place where we got lost for three or four minutes, a place where lots of other cars got lost," said Sainz.

Pushing Sainz all the way on stage one was his fellow MINI JCW Buggy driver Stephane Peterhansel. The 13-time Dakar winner eventually missed out on a stage win by just 26sec, but he has moved into second in the general classification.

"Navigation wasn't easy and there were a lot of rocks. It was so easy to get a puncture and we got one 30km from the end of the stage. Next stage also looks tricky," said Peterhansel.

Although they were unable to match the pace of Sainz, there were steady drives on stage one for Giniel De Villiers, Kuba Przygonski, Qatar's three-time champion Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah and Cyril Despres.

The news was not so good for nine-time World Rally Championship winner Sebastien Loeb as the Frenchman endured a difficult day.

"We were lost after 15 kilometres for 15 minutes. Then we were in the dust of the cars that had past us. We had three punctures and we got lost a second time," said Loeb.

The second day sees the Dakar convoy leave Bisha and head to Wadi Ad Dawasir. Early on in the mammoth 457km timed special stage will be a 30km section of dunes.

Some of the biggest names in off-road races are competing in Dakar Rally 2021, which runs till January 15 and has 12 stages spread over 7,500km of desert terrain.

(With Red Bull Media inputs)