2026 Dakar Rally stage three results sees Monster Energy Honda take a confident one-two with Tosha Schareina claiming victory (despite a crash!) ahead of Red Bull KTM’s Daniel Sanders heads a long day out front to maintain the overall lead.

Dakar 2026 Stage 3 summed up:

Stage three of the 2026 Dakar was an important one. Long, at 736 kilometres in total with 421km of that timed special, we’re in the thick of it now with bikes, bodies and minds all taking the beating (see below!).

It is relentless as ever with the marathon stage coming tomorrow (Weds/Thurs) meaning extra care for the bikes as they leave the service crews behind but not let-up in the slog.

Today’s hard graft came from the length of the stage but also riders all reported it was a tough one on the navigation, “one of the most difficult I’ve seen”, said the Dakar champion Daniel Sanders at the finish.

Schareina strikes

Tosha Schareina’s rise at the top of the timesheets today was relentless across the check points. It pointed to a rider able to use the advantage of being behind – he started in fifth place at 7:42am, some 12 minutes behind the first rider away, Daniel Sanders – to follow the wheel tracks left in the dirt by the riders in front.

It’s par for the course in this race and though Sanders particularly has bucked the trend of riders see-sawing back and forth each stage as they lead or follow, it was very much in evidence today and Schareina seized his moment to capitalise for his and Honda’s first stage win of the ’26 Dakar.

Schareina: “It was a really difficult day for navigation but the strategy for today was to win it and we did it. We know it is just the beginning of the rally and that we have to open tomorrow. It will be a marathon stage so we know we have to take care with the tyres, the machine and with ourselves but I am in a good position and I will try to open all day, that’s my goal.”

It wasn’t without incident for the Spaniard however, and this same hidden obstacle caught out Nacho Cornejo and put Stefan Svitko out of the race...

A crash into the dust and straight back on for @ToshaSchareina 💪#Dakar2026 #DakarInSaudi pic.twitter.com/k55RokZDbj

— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 6, 2026

Sanders maintains race lead

Sanders meanwhile did his usual best efforts to stay out front and collected over six minutes of valuable bonus time which maintains his overall lead. Chucky says he was happy with the result of starting and finishing first: “It was a tough one but we knew it would be from the beginning. We had to be good on the navigation and I think I did really well. I made some small mistakes but nothing major and I’m happy with how I rode and navigated all day. I just tried to keep a good pace and navigate well which I think I did for how difficult the navigation was, I think it was one of the most difficult I’ve seen.”

Asked how he felt about the prospect of Schareina having won the stage, Chucky said, “I hope so!”

Brabec chases down Chucky

Ricky Brabec showed he means business also today working hard across the 412km to catch the two riders ahead off the start. Starting third, the American had six minutes to close down and pushed past Edgar Canet to join Sanders at the front after three-quarters of the stage.

The two-time champ collected 1:12 in bonus points and understandably was happy at the finish line with his riding: “I think we started in a good spot for today’s stage. I think I did a good job. My only goal today was to catch Daniel (Sanders) and try to get some of that bonus time because I knew he was going to get a lot of it today. I rode well, had some fun and look forward to tomorrow.”

The overall outcome is Sanders still leads overall but Brabec and Schareina are both just over one minute behind. This trio look favourite for the title at this early stage.

Canet’s chance gone?

As a measure of how important the bonus points were, Chucky’s KTM teammate Canet loses out big time today having failed to take any. On stage two, Sanders was able to close down the three minutes Canet had on him off the start but Canet did not return the favour today because Sanders was too hard to catch.

Canet’s best chance would have been to match the pace of Brabec and keep tow on the Honda as he hauled in the lead KTM. But the young Spaniard lost that tow, finished in seventh and 11:45 off pace to go from race leader to fourth, 8:46 behind the lead and has lost touch in the overall rankings.

Good days in the books

It was a good day ticked off for the trio of experienced riders in fourth, fifth and sixth on stage three – Luciano Benavides, Skyler Howes and Ross Branch. The KTM, Honda and Hero riders respectively had solid rides on a tough and important day as the running order establishes itself. NB: Howes later collected two minute penalty for not respecting parc ferme rules (we're not sure exactly what) which dropped him down in the stage classification.

Rally 2

Mike Docherty also had a solid day in the saddle winning the Rally2 category with another consistent ride inside the top 10 scratch. Stage 2’s R2 winner, Martim Ventura, was 10th today just ahead of his Honda teammate, Preston Campbell, and the Portuguese is now 3'32’’ behind the South African.

It was not such a good day for new Hero recruit for Rally2 Tobias Ebster who crashed out and injured his hand. The Austrian joins the hugely experienced Stefan Svitko on the retiree list on stage three after he crashed and injured his shoulder around kilometre 140, in the same spot as Schareina and Cornejo. 

OBM

We have mentioned the Original by Motul class (OBM) result much in our coverage so far because last year’s winner Emanual Gyenes was running away with it…until today. The class sees riders looking after themselves and their bikes, plus sleeping in tents every night and is the toughest of categories at Dakar.

On stage three though Gyenes crashed, losing much of his huge advantage built up on the opening days to Benjamin Melot, now 6:45 behind in second place. The best OBM rider on stage three was Josep Pedro finishing 13th in Rally2 class and 25th overall.

Dakar 2026 Stage 3 results scratch:

* +2mins on Howes time above

Provisional classification after stage 3 RallyGP:

Provisional classification after stage 3 Rally2:

Photo Credit: A.S.O. | Jennifer Lindini | F.le Floc'h + Julien Delfosse DPPI