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Ricky Brabec took the lead of the 2024 edition of Dakar in the dunes of the Saudi Arabian Empty Quarter on the formidable 48 Hour Chrono stage , which drove plenty of riders into a corner , and held on to first place all the way to Yanbu to pick up his second triumph on the Dakar .
This year ’ s success was even more tasty than four years previously , because Ross Branch pushed him all the way . To help him resist , Brabec was able to count on the support of his team-mates , particularly Adrien Van Beveren who often opened with the Californian .
The Frenchman took advantage of this teamwork to finish third and climb onto the podium for the first time in nine participations , which was a deliverance for the man who claims to live , breathe and train all year long for the Dakar … Van Beveren owes his success not only to the progress he has made on rocky terrain but also to his Honda which allowed him to confidently attack from start to finish .
The Japanese constructor put two of its representatives on the podium to pick up its eighth success on the Dakar . What ’ s more , if it was not for a fuel pump problem towards the end of the rally , Nacho Cornejo may also have been able to join his team-mates on an entirely red podium . In order to do so , he and Van Beveren would have had to have toppled the heroic Hero rider Ross Branch . The hard-nosed man from Botswana was a candidate for overall victory right up to the finish , even though he had been deprived of his team-mates , who
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