The battle for the Desafío Ruta 40 intensifies on the penultimate stage
Desafio Ruta 40
Stage four of the Desafío Ruta 40 was another long day for the riders with Tosha Schareina going on the attack to take victory in an epic battle between Honda team mates Dakar winner Ricky Brabec and Adrien Van Beveren.
Stage four of the Desafío Ruta 40 was another long day for the riders with Tosha Schareina going on the attack to take victory in an epic battle between Honda team mates Dakar winner Ricky Brabec and Adrien Van Beveren.
Starting off with a dune section, a favourite of the riders, the stage took in chotts, tarmac, a river section to then finish off with a gravel track heading into the final bivouac of the rally at La Rioja.
The day began with Adrien Van Beveren looking to cut his 3’38” time difference to leader Ricky Brabec on the 280km stage and that he did quickly as he took the lead by the first waypoint. Brabec though had other ideas, despite having the arduous task of leaving the start line first. A mistake by Van Beveren then led to the American clocking the fastest time 88km in but this time he had another Monster Energy Honda Team rider to contend with in the form of Tosha Schareina. Brabec kept him at bay for the majority of the stage but a determined Schareina, who was looking to add to his prologue win, managed to reduce a 55 second gap right down to 7 seconds.
With a 110km road transfer to break up the timed section, they were back on the gas for a final 100km dash to the finish with just one second separating them at the final time split. Come the finish there were just seven seconds splitting them as Schareina notched up his sixth World Rally-Raid Championship stage win.
As they head into the final day tomorrow, Schareina will have to not only make up nearly a minute and a half on Brabec to take a second consecutive Desafío Ruta 40 win but he’ll also have to open the stage, something that may hand the American rider an advantage. Adrien Van Beveren helped the team to another Honda 1-2-3, finishing just 57 seconds back as he made up time towards the end of the stage to cement his third position in the overall standings.
Skyler Howes finished the day four minutes down in fifth due to a couple of mistakes and sixth placed Pablo Quintanilla fell victim to a navigation error which took him off piste costing him valuable time too.
Tomorrow’s final stage will head from La Rioja to Córdoba where the rally started last weekend with a 218km stage that will dictate who the winner of the 2024 Desafío Ruta 40 will be.