Lategan and Sanders resume Dakar Rally cautiously but stay in front

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A rider jumps during the sixth stage of the Dakar Rally between Hail and Al Duwadimi, Saudi Arabia, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

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Rider Juan Puga competes during the sixth stage of the Dakar Rally between Hail and Al Duwadimi, Saudi Arabia, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

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Driver Toby Price and co-driver Sam Sunderland compete during the sixth stage of the Dakar Rally between Hail and Al Duwadimi, Saudi Arabia, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

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Driver Yazeed Al Rajhi and co-driver Timo Gottschalk compete during the sixth stage of the Dakar Rally between Hail and Al Duwadimi, Saudi Arabia, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

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Driver Henk Lategan and co-driver Brett Cummings compete during the sixth stage of the Dakar Rally between Hail and Al Duwadimi, Saudi Arabia, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

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The car of Driver Guerlain Chicherit and co-driver Alex Winocq is pictured after they crashed during the sixth stage of the Dakar Rally between Hail and Al Duwadimi, Saudi Arabia, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

AL DUWADIMI, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Henk Lategan and Daniel Sanders held their leads when the Dakar Rally resumed on Saturday while admitting not wanting to push too hard before tougher stages to the finish in the Saudi desert.

After the only rest day, the caution of car front-runner Lategan and motorbike pace-setter Sanders allowed their closest pursuers to catch up by up to four minutes on the sixth stage from Ha’il south to Al Duwadimi.

South African driver Lategan was seventh on the stage, 6 1/2 minutes behind Belgian winner Guillaume de Mévius.

Saudi driver Yazeed Al Rajhi, fifth, gained three minutes to be seven minutes behind Lategan in second overall. Sweden’s Mattias Ekstrom lost a couple of minutes to be 22 minutes back in third, and Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah chipped off five minutes to trail by 30 1/2 minutes in fourth.

De Mévius was an out-of-the-blue second in the Dakar a year ago but last Sunday he lost 2 1/2 hours to fall out of contention and on Wednesday another hour. On Saturday, he led home Joao Ferreira of Portugal for a Mini 1-2 with Al-Attiyah third.

“We had a good stage, finally!” De Mévius said. “My car still bears a few scars from last week and today we did a bit of flying, but thankfully we didn’t hit anything.”

Not PARSE.LY: Daniel Sanders

Dakar Rally comes down to a duel in the sand between Lategan and Al-Rajhi

Al Rajhi takes over Dakar Rally lead after miserable stage for Lategan

Lategan masters drive to Riyadh to earn breathing room on Dakar Rally

However, his Mini teammate Guerlain Chicherit of France, lying 10th overall, had to abandon his 14th Dakar after he rolled early on.

The motorbike standings were also shook up early.

Botswana’s Ross Branch, fourth overall, crashed out but walked to his airlift. He was followed by South Africa’s Bradley Cox, who crashed 100 meters after the stage start. Cox abandoned after 48 more kilometers.

Two-time champion Kevin Benavides, 16th overall, withdrew before the stage, not wanting to risk further injury. But the Argentine has stayed to support his brother Luciano Benavides, who was given the stage five victory on Thursday but lost it when Adrien van Beveren successfully appealed against a time penalty.

Van Beveren opened the way on Saturday and accumulated every bonus point to finish second by 23 seconds to Ricky Brabec, the defending champion who won his first stage of this Dakar.

With Sanders happy to finish ninth, Brabec made up six minutes on the Australian leader to rise to fourth overall, 23 minutes back.

Tosha Schareina of Spain was second overall, nearly 12 minutes behind, and Van Beveren third, 19 minutes back.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing