Saturday, January 3, 2026, 2:06 p.m.
22 kilometers were enough for Edgar Canet, 19, to write a line in the record books of the Dakar rally. The rider from La Garriga, a land with a lot of tradition around motorcycling and specifically motocross, has just become the youngest in history – “according to available records”, the organization specifies, considering the amateurism of the origins of this raid – to win a stage. The brief special that served as a prologue in Yanbu, where the first major camp of this edition of the raid is located, has served as a warning to those who still doubted that we are facing an innate talent in this race and that KTM’s commitment – which is still alive as a structure despite the deep financial crisis faced by the parent company – for him makes perfect sense.
On a day in which he made it clear that the first week of the Dakar will be fast but also dangerous, on rocky terrain full of traps at every turn of the handlebars, Canet used his intelligence to surpass Daniel Sanders, one of the theoretical leaders he should have, by three seconds, and Ricky Brabec’s Honda by five. Aware that this victory is, for the moment, anecdotal, the Catalan was remarkably satisfied, not only for the victory itself, but for how he felt on the bike. «We have finished the prologue with very good feelings. I have been able to anticipate the dangers by reading the road book 100% and that means that I have good safety on the motorcycle. I don’t think I could have done it better. “It is the best way to start the rally and I am very happy,” he said exultantly upon his return to Yanbu.
In the car category, the winner was Mattias Ekström who returned to the place where, three years ago, he debuted the category and prologue with victory. The Swede started 2026 with his sixth partial victory – third in a prologue – in the test, this time at the wheel of a Ford Raptor that begins the rally with the aura of a serious candidate. It was not a knock on the table, because it was only 22 kilometers of the day and in fact this time does not count towards the general classification, but it was a declaration of intentions: the Raptor is going to be one of the strongest cars. And Mitch Guthrie followed his teammate’s reference pace, until he was only eight seconds behind, and that small margin, almost a whisper in the times, was enough to put together a double that places the American manufacturer in the starting photo. Guillaume De Mévius completed the symbolic podium of the day with his X-Raid Mini, nailing the same second as Guthrie.
Old kings of the desert
The old kings of the desert, meanwhile, were seen without fanfare. Nasser Al Attiyah, always methodical, also left eight seconds behind, fourth on a board that has not yet revealed any cards but that warns of the potential of the Dacia team with the Sandriders. Yazeed Al Rajhi, current champion, raised his foot at fourteen seconds, only one more than Carlos Sainz who was fifteen seconds behind with Nani Roma, eighteen seconds behind. All within the same minute, all aware that nothing was gained this Saturday… but that it does serve to start reading the gestures.
Everything can change this Sunday, when the really serious things begin. There will be 305 kilometers divided into two parts: the first in a stony, narrow terrain and where the management of punctures – there were already some this Saturday – can determine the second part, which will be on sandier terrain. In between, there will be an area to change tires and refuel, a small respite in a day in which you can win a lot but lose much more.
The feeling of this beginning has been that of a dress rehearsal: a first brushstroke to recognize the stage, actors and provisional hierarchies. The Dakar, once again, begins by measuring silences before unleashing the noise.
