Only 110 of the original 143 bikes remained at the beginning of today’s 7th stage of the 2017 Dakar.
Sam Sunderland led the field out but got lost in the sand dunes until Paulo Goncalves caught him and saved him from further disorientation.
The Honda riders went out hard trying to make up time lost when they were hit with a 1 hour penalty last week.
Yamaha rider Adrien Van Beveren hurt his chances of a rally win when he crashed, losing around 10 minutes while he repaired the bike.
Service crews are not allowed to touch the bikes overnight ahead of a very long timed stage tomorrow that will take the competitors back into Argentina.