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that earned him 19th in the outright standings . The duel between Emanuel Gyenes and Benjamin Melot for victory in the Original by Motul class kept the bivouac guessing until the final kilometre . The Romanian won by a whisker , three minutes and five seconds , in front of the Frenchman , repeating the top two from the 2020 edition .
In his third attempt at Dakar , another Australian , Andrew Houlihan took on the toughest of all the classes , the Original By Motul , a class where riders compete like in the Dakar ’ s of old , each on their own , without a support crew . It ’ s a battle of minds as riders are with nothing but their bikes , against the elements , against themselves . The fifty-five year old was running well until an accident saw him out with serious injuries , forced to retire from stage eight .
The young riders who recently joined the Dakar caravan put in respectable performances and gained experience . Neels Theric ( 15th ) gave Kove the best result in its history as well as for a Chinese bike on the rally . The same was true for Jérémy Miroir ( 27th ) with Italian brand Fantic . Hoto made its debut this year
Pic : ASO / F . Gooden DPPI & ASO / J . Lindini
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