Stage 5 @ Dakar 2025: Van Beveren & Cornejo both podium, leader Sanders faulters

Joining his Monster Energy counterpart on the Stage 5 podium, with another ‘inspired’ ride for his second-straight 3^rd place finish, was Jose “Nacho” Cornejo (Hero Motosports, fueled by Monster Energy. And Monster Energy racers would claim the next four spots with, in order, defending WRRC champ Ross Branch (Hero Motosports, fueled by Monster Energy), defending Dakar champ Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally), Skyler Howes (Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally) and Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally) in 4^th, 5^th, 6^th and 7^th positions.

With his 7^th place Stage 5 run, Schareina cut a hunk out of Sanders’ overall lead – which stood at 13:26 following Stage 4. Couple that with Sanders’ 12^th place Stage 5 finish, and the overall gap between Sanders and Schareina is down to 07:02. 3^rd place Stage 5 & overall Branch is up to 17:48 back (from 26:10), with Van Beveren (4^th o/a), Howes (5^th) and Brabec (6^th) all gaining valuable time on Sanders on Stage 5.

Friday is the official “Rest Day” for the racers and teams of the 2025 Dakar Rally, held at the bivouac in Hail, Saudi Arabia. Saturday’s Stage 6 kicks off the second half of the Dakar Rally with the guys booting back up for a run from Hail to Al Duwadimi, featuring a grueling 605 km Special (224 km Liaison) that travels considerably longer than the first week’s stages. The Stage 6 course is designed to be a contrast in riding surfaces. Opening with a fast stretch, the racers are lulled into a false sense of ease (in terms of difficulty), then are blasted with sand – from hills and small dunes to tracks. Better have enjoyed that day of rest because the Dakar only gets more difficult from here to the end.

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Said Cornejo: "Well, we’re done with the Marathon Stage. Stage 4 and 5 went really well for me, two 3^rd place podium places. So I’m happy for that. Been enjoying the bike a lot, the riding too. I’ve been making some good decisions out there and I’m happy the bike is still in really good condition. Everybody’s now working to get ready for the second week of racing. We still have a whole week ahead. We will go out there and do our best, day by day, stage by stage in order to climb in the overalls. I’m ready for the second week of racing.."

Said Branch: “So that’s the end of the marathons for the Dakar 2025, and boy am I glad they are done. Today, Stage 5, was good. I started off 15^th, quite far back, but that made the navigation a little bit easier. I was having a really good day, up to 100 kilometers before the finish. I got a piece of wire stuck in the back wheel, so I had to stop and take that out. But other than that it was a relatively good stage. Had fun, and glad we’re at a well-deserved Rest Day. I’m going to enjoy a little bit of sleeping tomorrow, then catch up with everyone tomorrow afternoon. Tell a few race stories. I’m good. The bike’s good. And I’m really looking forward to Week 2.”

Said Schareina: “Today was another hard day at the office. Yesterday we tried to save the bike as much as we could, today, Stage 5, was hard again. We started in 2^nd place. I had a little bit of difficulty early in the stage. I did a mistake and two guys behind me caught up. After that we caught up to Daniel (Sanders), and we rode together all day to the finish line. We took back some time from Daniel and are now 2^nd overall. Now, time to rest, enjoy the Rest Day tomorrow.”

Said Brabec: “Yesterday and today, the marathon. It was a tough day. Opened things up (Wednesday’s Stage 4) and then Skyler caught up to us. Ross caught up to us. Us three were in a group riding really well, then we made a really huge mistake and lost about ten minutes. Made it in, bike, bodies – which is always a positing. Today (Stage 5) we had tracks to follow, and you’d think the day would be easy. Actually, it was more difficult following the lines. But yeah, here we are at the Rest Day. Bike’s in good shape. I’m in good shape. Team’s in good shape. Looking forward to the final week, but today, yeah, felt like we had a monkey on our back all day. Tried, to the best of my abilities to push, but at the end of the day we didn’t recover as much time as we hoped we would. But there’s plenty of racing left to do. The overall’s still in sight… I just have to make smart decisions in order to get there. In the end I’m happy with the first week, the racing and navigating. Taking it to heart a bit much, hard on myself. But we’re definitely in a position to challenge up front – or at least for a position that’ll make us happy to come back next year.”

Stage 5 Notes:

• Reports out of the Monster Energy/Honda HRC camp is that the racers area dealing with their (expected) normal bumps and bruises. And that’s where the magical physio Miguel, team masseuse, steps in and rights which is wrong with the racers’ sore muscles.
• Top executives from Honda and Showa are arriving on Rest Day for the remainder of the Dakar. This definitely raises the spirits of the racers, while also giving a performance boost to the rest of the team.
• In regards to Tabletgate, with race officials responding to across the entry field navigational table issues by awarding the race leader an extra five minutes after his tablet malfunctioned in Stage 4, but issued no time to the other racers who had problems. There’s still an air of anger in the bivouac over how the whole situation was handled.
• Lot of media stuff on Rest Day for the riders. Press conferences, interviews. So even though it’s called “Rest Day,” this is where the racers have to step up and handle the other part of their job.
• What an up and down couple days for Monster Energy’s Sara Price (Factory Can-Am). After winning Stage 4’s SSV class, Price and co-driver Sean Berriman ran into some electrical issues, which resulted in a small fire that forced them to stop the race. Said Price: “We played for an hour and a half fixing stuff and playing with wires. Disconnected some, connected some, and eventually took off some sensors to get the car to run again. Also found a soup can to fix the exhaust.”

Monster Energy Dakar Stage 5 Motorcycle Results

Place/Name/Team/Time

2^nd – Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy/Honda)
04:53:47 (- minus 00:00:47)

3^rd – Jose Cornejo (Hero/Monster Energy)
04:54:31 (- minus 00:01:31)

4^th – Ross Branch (Hero/Monster Energy)
04:56:20 (- minus 00:03:20)

5^th – Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy/Honda)
04:56:30 (- minus 00:03:30)

Monster Energy Dakar Motorcycle Standings (after Stage 5)

Place/Name/Team/Time

2^nd – Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy/Honda)
30:27:17 (- minus 00:07:02)

3^rd – Ross Branch (Hero/Monster Energy)
30:38:03 (- minus 00:17:48)

4^th – Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy/Honda)
30:38:46 (- minus 00:18:31)

5^th – Skyler Howes (Monster Energy/Honda)
30:40:14 (- minus 00:19:59)

Monster Energy Dakar SSV Class

Stage 5 SSV Results

14^th – Sara Price (Can-Am Factory Team)
06:30:31  (- minus 01:28:05)

Overall

28^th – Sara Price (Can-Am Factory Team)
109:77:14:19  (- minus 58:00:00)

Up next…

Friday is the official “Rest Day” for the racers and teams of the 2025 Dakar Rally, held at the bivouac in Hail, Saudi Arabia. Saturday’s Stage 6 kicks off the second half of the Dakar Rally with the guys booting back up for a run from Hail to Al Duwadimi, featuring a grueling 605 km Special (224 km Liaison) that travels considerably longer than the first week’s stages. The Stage 6 course is designed to be a contrast in riding surfaces. Opening with a fast stretch, the racers are lulled into a false sense of ease (in terms of difficulty), then are blasted with sand – from hills and small dunes to tracks. Better have enjoyed that day of rest because the Dakar only gets more difficult from here to the end. For more information, including “Live” timing and scoring, visit www.dakar.com