2026 Dakar Rally stage four results sees a shake-up as riders faced the first marathon stage, part one of a tyre shredding 900 kilometres across two days – Tosha Schareina and Ricky Brabec are the new joint race leaders after dead heat.

Dakar 2026 Stage 4 summed up:

Stage four of the 2026 Dakar was day one of two marathon stages (four days racing in total) at the 48th edition, and it was a dramatic one. If you’re looking at the results and wondering what happened then there are many factors – including all the usual ones of some riders navigating better than others, some crashing – plus a key element of fear, fear that their rear tyres will not last.

A marathon stage means a set of hoops must last the 500 kilometres today and 400km tomorrow – that’s a long way on any bike but with rocky terrain “shredding tyres and mousses”, will my back tyre go the distance is a question front and present in the minds of riders during every kilometre.

Enduro21 goes into the tyre issue in a little more detail here: Dakar 2026 Shredded Tyres – “there’s going to be a lot of drama I think”

Schareina and Brabec dead heat

The story of the day in the fight for the Tuareg Trophy was the stage three winner, Tosha Schareina, went back-to-back with stage wins. Leading from the get-go, The Honda rider amassed a maximum haul of 6:26 bonus points which kept him afloat despite being caught by his teammate, Ricky Brabec (who clocked 3:16 time credits).

They finished first and second separated by six seconds on the stage and remarkably on exactly the same total time after four days racing of 16h45m40s.

“The mission for today was to open from the beginning to the end and we did it.” Says Tosha after his second stage victory on the bounce. “Ricky and I rode together for the last 200ks but it was not easy, I expected something more easy for navigation but my bike is ok, tomorrow we will see.”

Brabec happy: “I started a little bit slow today but picked up the pace and caught up with Tosha and we rode together for 200ks and it was really cool. We’re in a good position and we’re both happy. The navigation and terrain were tricky because we were on big slab rocks a lot and you had ot follow the CAP heading and trust yourself.

“The bike didn’t touch the ground today, I just have to check over the tyres and for the moment we’re perfectly fine. I just need to pull the seat off, check the air filter, put some fuel in it and we’re ready for tomorrow.”  

They HRC pair also had teammate Skyler Howes, for company on the timesheets, plus Hero MotoSports’ Ross Branch, and all four crossed the line within 16 seconds of each other. Howes came out marginally on top of Branch, 10 seconds behind the winner, meaning Honda has a one-two-three finish on the stage.

“I made some silly mistakes”

Overnight race leader Daniel Sanders started in third place behind Schareina and Brabce. You would ordinarily have expected the KTM rider to close down those in front but not today. The Aussie made navigation mistakes and was riding mindful of his tyres to bring it home in fifth, 2:37 behind the fastest time: “I had the guys in front but made some silly mistakes in the navigation. I just got confused on a couple of notes which were pretty straightforward and overcomplicated it for myself and lost a lot of time before the refuel.

“After that I tried to push and make up some time but I cleaned it up a bit and didn’t’ really make many mistakes after that. It was another long day.”

The overall positions now are still very close but they have switched around, giving Honda a one-two and putting Sanders 1:37 behind in third.

Rally2 class shake-up

It was bad luck for Rally2 race leader and top 10 contender Michael Docherty who went out with a broken wheel today. Docherty says he simply hit a rock and it “exploded” his front wheel, blowing the mousse out the tyre and damaging the rim.

He wasn’t alone as the next guy up, Dakar rookie and HRC rider Martim Ventura, had a tranmission problem on his CRF450 Rally. Ventura got himself across the line but lost two hours and will not see his HRC mechanics until another 400 kilometres of racing.

Though not a challenger for the R2 class win, podium contender Mathieu Doveze also unfortunately crashed out.  

Theric puts Kove on top

One of the pre-race Rally2 favourites, Neels Theric, hit the front at last. The Kove rider had bike trouble on the prologue and lost a catastrophic amount of time pushing his bike for a couple of Ks (it was an aftermarket part which failed FYI). But the Frenchman was on song today and claims a first-ever victory for the Chinese manufacturer and took P10 scratch.

Toni Mulec and Preston Campbell were also in the mix and headed and rash of R2 riders in the top 20 (although, take note, there are only 13 RallyGP riders left in the race). Campbell becomes the new class leader, following in his father’s footsteps in making a mark on this race by delivering Honda a maiden stage win in class.

Konrad Dabrowski, Ruy Barbosa and Mongolian Khaliunbold Erdenebileg complete the top five in class and top 16 overall.

Dakar 2026 Stage 4 results scratch:

Provisional classification after stage 4:

Photo Credit: A.S.O Charley Lopez + EdoPhoto + Arabian Knight + Kove Moto UK