Ross Branch is back in the lead of the Dakar 2024. In the fifth stage held this Thursday, the Botswana rider achieved the sixth-best time, which was enough to surpass José Ignacio Cornejo (Monster Energy Honda) in the overall standings.
The Hero MotoSports rider reacted to the result in statements published on the team’s social media: ‘Today was OK. It was a 118kms of just sand dunes. Some good dunes, some bad, some broken – a little bit of everything! We’re here in one piece, and in a good position to start tomorrow’, he said.
Next is the 48-hour marathon stage, and Branch admitted that he doesn’t expect it to be easy: ‘Stage 6 is going to be super interesting, difficult and really hard on the bikes and the riders. It’s going to be a long day, but let’s see how we can ace the new format’.