Biker Edgar Canet enjoys dream Dakar start

YANBU: Spaniard Edgar Canet made a dream Dakar Rally debut on Saturday when the 20-year-old rookie topped the times in the prologue of motorsport’s most grueling event in Saudi Arabia.
The KTM factory rider ended the 22 km ride around Yanbu three seconds clear of teammate and defending champion Daniel Sanders with Honda’s American rider Ricky Brabec, the 2024 winner, five seconds adrift.
“I was super fast and super happy with this feeling. It’s the best way to start the rally,” said Canet.
Sanders was relieved to get his title defense up and running.
“Happy to be here at the start line and get the prologue done. It was a lot faster than expected, but not so technical, so it was hard to make up time,” the Australian said.
“It was full gas the whole time, so I’m sure there were really close times. It’s good to get that out of the way and get into a stage tomorrow.”
In the car category, Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar did the best of the big names, crossing eight seconds adrift in fourth. Defending champion Yazeed Al-Rajhi of Saudi Arabia was 14sec off the pace.