Stage report
Dakar Dakar
Dakar 2017, Stage 1: Al-Attiyah quickest from Pons, Roma
Two-time Dakar champion Nasser Al-Attiyah set the pace on the opening stage of the 2017 edition of the rally-raid, before developing a mechanical problem in the road section.
Valentin Khorounzhiy
Edited: Jan 3, 2017, 8:56 AM
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Official competition in the 2017 edition of the legendary Dakar race opened with a looping run from Paraguay capital Asuncion to Argentine city Resistencia on Monday.
Of the 454km making up the path between the two locations, the timed section was just 39km early on, located entirely in Paraguay as the country's only special stage of the event.
Among the main car entries, it was Qatari Al-Attiyah who set the pace, completing the timed section in 25m41s.
However, Al-Attiyah's Toyota Hilux then developed an issue after he'd surged to the top of the timesheets – and he had to be towed by Gazoo South Africa teammate Giniel de Villiers.
The Qatari was seen using an extinguisher to put out a fire in his Toyota.
Closest to the Qatari through the timed section was ex-WRC driver Xevi Pons, the Spaniard finishing 24 seconds adrift in his Ford Ranger.
Nani Roma, who, like Al-Attiyah, has switched from X-Raid Mini to Toyota ahead of this year's race, was a close third.
Carlos Sainz led the Peugeot contingent in fourth, him and stablemate Sebastien Loeb split by de Villiers. The French marque's other two works entrants – Cyril Despres and 2016 winner Stephane Peterhansel, who opened the stage – were eighth and 12th respectively.
Yazeed Al-Rajhi was the quickest X-Raid Mini driver in seventh, 1m6s off Al-Attiyah and 14s ahead of teammate Mikko Hirvonen in ninth.
De Soultrait tops bike stage, Price 17th
In the bike classification, the short timed section produced a first-time stage winner in Yamaha privateer Xavier de Soultrait.
The Frenchman, who won this year's FIM Baja World Cup title, pipped Sherco's Juan Pedrero to the top spot by a margin of two seconds.
Honda trio Ricky Brabec, Michael Metge and Paulo Goncalves locked out the next three spots, with KTM's Sam Sunderland in sixth the last rider within half a second of de Soultrait.
Joan Barreda (Honda), Mathias Waklner (KTM) and Himoinsa KTM privateer duo Gerrard Farres Guell and Ivan Cervantes made up the top 10.
Dakar 2016 champion Toby Price, who opened the stage, was almost a minute and a half adrift on his KTM, with last year's runner-up Stefan Svitko a few seconds ahead in 14th.
Despite the short timed distance, the stage has already produced two serious crashes, with Polish rider Jakub Piatek reportedly fracturing his wrist and Switzerland's Marco Filippi sustaining a broken arm.
In quads, 2016 frontrunner Marcelo Medeiros managed to clear his opposition by more than a minute in the short section, with fellow Yamaha rider Gaston Gonzalez finishing as second-best and local favourite Nelson Sanabria of Paraguay completing the top three.
Of the past winners, Josef Machacek and Ignacio Casale took ninth and 10th respectively, while Rafal Sonik was a muted 25th, almost seven minutes off the pace.
UPDATE: De Soultrait has lost nine positions as a result of a penalty for speeding, handing the lead to Pedrero.
Kolomy goes quickest for Tatra
Among the trucks, Czech driver Martin Kolomy was quickest, his time of 30 minutes exact allowing him to secure the second stage win of his Dakar career.
Running ninth on the road, Kolomy overhauled Iveco driver Ton van Genugten by 13 seconds.
Martin van den Brink put his Renault truck in third place, ahead of Kolomy's new teammate Ales Loprais and reigning Dakar champion Gerard de Rooy.
De Rooy had sustained a puncture during the run, but managed to set a time just 42 seconds slower.
Eduard Nikolaev was the leading Kamaz in sixth place, while Peter Versluis led the Eurol MAN contingent in seventh.
Upon completing the road section, the drivers, riders and crews will start gearing up for the largely-flat run from Resistencia to Tucuman, which will feature a special stage of almost 300 km.
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