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Benavides awarded win after stopping for Goncalves

Kevin Benavides has been awarded victory on the seventh stage of the Dakar Rally after stopping to assist Paulo Goncalves following the Portuguese rider's fatal crash.

#7 Monster Energy Honda Team: Kevin Benavides

#7 Monster Energy Honda Team: Kevin Benavides

Motul

Honda man Benavides had been leading Sunday's Riyadh-Wadi Al Dawasir stage before Goncalves' crash at the 276km mark.

Goncalves, 40, was airlifted to hospital and subsequently pronounced dead.

Several riders stopped to aid Goncalves, including Benavides, Toby Price and Stefan Svitko, all of whom have been awarded time by rally organisers.

Benavides had originally been classified 6m35s behind Honda teammate Joan Barreda, but following the adjustments he has been given a time 1m23s faster than the Spaniard.

It means the Argentine rider earns his first win of the Dakar ahead of Barreda, with lead KTM rider Matthias Walkner slipping to third.

Overall rally leader Ricky Brabec is now classified fifth behind Benavides' brother Luciano.

Price, who had lost more than one hour and 20 minutes as he assisted the medical team at the site of Goncalves' crash, was awarded a time just 7m57s slower than that of Benavides, putting him seventh on the day and fourth place overall.

The KTM rider had provisionally dropped to 11th overall, having begun the day third, but nevertheless concedes a place in the general classification to Honda's Jose Ignacio Cornejo.

Revised standings after Stage 7 (Bikes, top 10):

Pos. Rider Bike Time/Gap
1

United States Ricky Brabec

Honda 28h25m01s
2

Chile Pablo Quintanilla

Husqvarna 24m48s
3

Chile Jose Ignacio Cornejo

Honda 27m01s
4 Australia Toby Price KTM 28m44s
5 Spain Joan Barreda Honda 29m29s
6

Austria Matthias Walkner

KTM 33m04s
7

Argentina Luciano Benavides

KTM 38m58s
8

United States Skyler Howes

Husqvarna 1h15m02s
9 Argentina Franco Caimi Yamaha 1h15m31s
10 Slovakia Stefan Svitko KTM 1h19m41s

 

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