Kiwi Rider January 2024 Vol.2 | Page 38

Kevin Benavides
place for Stage 4 . After leading out into the fast tracks and open desert of the stage , Benavides , did an incredible job of opening the Special . Although he was eventually caught by one rider at the 178km mark , he continued to lead , and as such , accumulated the maximum in bonus time . Completing the stage as third-fastest moves Kevin up to fourth in the provisional overall standings . It is still early days in the marathon that is the Dakar Rally . With another two-thirds of the rally still to take place , including the 48 hour chrono challenge of Stage 6 , the riders to cross the finish line in Yanbu on January 19 could look very different to those currently at the top of the timesheets . We ’ ll return with a full wrap of Dakar 2024 in the next issue of Kiwi Rider .
point , and then later just about 20km from the finish . He still rode strong to finish the stage just outside the podium . After enjoying three consecutive days at the overall first place in the Dakar 2024 classifications , the Botswanan star moved one step down to the overall 2nd place behind Cornejo . Celebrating his 35th birthday in style , KTM ’ s Benavides rounded out the podium in third
38 KIWI RIDER