Dakar 2019 – De Soultrait wins as Quintanilla takes de lead

Bruno Gomes

January 10, 2019

Xavier de Soultrait (Yamaha) winner of Stage 3 of the Dakar 2019

For those fans that were feeling a bit disappointed because the Dakar Rally was only going to be in Peru, this year’s edition Stage 3 has proven that this might be one of the best Dakar Rally we’ve seen in recent years. The day linked San Juan de Marcona to Arequipa, and the 331 km special stage made its first high profile victim, Joan Barreda, while Yamaha rider Xavier de Soultrait managed to get his first career win on the Dakar, and Pablo Quintanilla takes the Husqvarna to the overall lead.

Leading the race since day one, Spanish rider Joan “Bang Bang” Barreda was forced to withdraw from the Dakar 2019, after he became stuck on the 131 km mark at the special stage.

With 22 career wins at the Dakar, Barreda and his Honda were the biggest favorites to finally break KTM winning streak, but as happened in the past few years, Barreda had to withdraw when he was leading the rally. He became stuck in a dip, and couldn’t get out, even though he tried to find an exit. All his efforts were in vain, and Joan Barreda had to be taken by helicopter to the bivouac

“I tried to turn and turn around to go uphill, but I couldn’t do anything because the bike started to slide downwards. I was not able to climb back up. I tried to go down more to see if I could find a possible exit, but it was impossible and there was no exit and it got worse all the time”, said Joan Barreda, disappointed for another DNF at the Dakar Rally.

But Barreda wasn’t the only front runner to feel problems, and also the Matthias Walkner (KTM) and Barreda’s teammate Kevin Benavides were lost for most part of Stage 3. In the overall standings, Brabec is now seventh with an 18-minute disadvantage to the new leader, and Walkner is one place behind, 21 minutes adrift from Pablo Quintanilla.

Pablo Quintanilla and his Husqvarna are the new leaders pf the Dakar 2019, after Joan Barreda had to withdraw from the event

As for the winner of the day, and benefiting from all the problems the front runners had, Xavier de Soultrait and his Yamaha were perfect and reached Arequipa ahead of the field. Starting the day in 12th, De Soultrait avoided all the traps that caught the fastest riders of the days one and two, and reached the bivouac with a lead of 15 seconds over Husqvarna rider Pablo Quintanilla.

Kevin Benavides (Honda) was third fastest of the day, but over 2 minutes’ disadvantage to De Soultrait.

All this means Pablo Quintanilla has stepped up to the top spot at the Dakar 2019 after Stage 3, and he now holds a good lead over Kevin Benavides, with the Husqvarna rider getting more than 11 minutes between him and his pursuer on the Honda. The top 3 is completed by Sam Sunderland, the best KTM.

Here’s the overall classification of the 2019 Dakar Rally after Stage 3

1. Pablo Quintanilla (Chile) – Husqvarna – 8h34m28s
2. Kevin Benavides (Argentina) – Honda – +11m23s
3. Sam Sunderland (Great Britain) – KTM – +12m12s
4. Adrien van Beveren (France) – Yamaha – +13m29s
5. Toby Price (Australia) – KTM – +15m17s