It was the Dakar everyone expected Aussie Daniel Sanders to win. After a stellar season in Rally Raid, the world champion was the clear favourite. Tosha Schareina who had also had a fantastic season was the challenger expected to take the fight to Sanders. And that’ s how it shaped up for the first half of the race until the Spaniard was hit with a 10-minute penalty for an incorrect starting procedure caused by ignoring flags exiting the bivouac on Stage 5... and Sanders smashed his shoulder on Stage 8. The Dakar we thought we were getting had blown away in the desert sands. Having the two expected front runners pushed down the order, left two-time winner Ricky Brabec as Honda’ s hope for the prestigious Dakar win. And until Sanders damaged his shoulder, it was indeed a battle between Honda’ s Brabec and KTM’ s Sanders. But with Sanders out of serious contention, Luciano Benavides was KTM’ s hope for the win. It looked like Brabec’ s way was clear to a third consecutive Dakar win. And that’ s how it was shaping up. It was a something of a foregone conclusion