Dakar: Stage 3

Australian Andy Cladecott won the third stage of the Dakar Rally and first stage in Africa.

The stage was hard work for the bikes with challenging navigation and lots of big rocks to contend with.

Fellow KTM rider Cyril Despres took third place behind KTM US rider Andy Grider to move in to first place in the overall standings.

BMW UK trio Charley Boorman, Si Pavey and Matt Hall slipped down the rankings a little to finish in 154th, 155th and 156th respectively, while Mick Extance finished the top Brit on his Honda, only slightly down on yesterday in 41st.

Boorman said: “We started out at 2.30am and had to get through a 230km-liaison. We’ve ridden across lots of fast and rocky trails that led on to wadis and there has been so much dust. Everything was ok for a while until the cars started streaming past us very fast. It was quite scary, but we finally got to the end without any major problems.”

Five-times Dakar rider Si Pavey, added: “I’m really pleased with how Charley is going. He set a good speed today and managed to stay out of trouble. He has really impressed me.”

Tomorrow sees the field move in to the dunes for the first time.

Day three results:

1 CALDECOTT (AUS) KTM 03:21:11

2 GRIDER (USA) KTM 00:03:04

3 DESPRES (FRA) KTM 00:03:06

4 DE GAVARDO (CHI) KTM 00:03:27

5 PELLICER (ESP) KTM 00:04:11

6 COMA (ESP) KTM 00:05:45

7 AMARAL (POR) KTM 00:06:28

8 AGRA CARRERA (ESP) YAMAHA 00:06:46

9 BLAIS (USA) KTM 00:06:55

10 ULLEVALSETER (NOR) KTM 00:07:08

11 GAU (FRA) KTM 00:07:42

12 FRETIGNE (FRA) YAMAHA 00:08:00

13 DUCLOS (FRA) KTM 00:08:27

14 SALA (ITA) KTM 00:08:39

15 KATRINAK (SLQ) KTM 00:08:59

16 RIVERA (ESP) KTM 00:09:16

17 CASTEU (FRA) KTM 00:09:28

18 STREET (USA) KTM 00:09:44

19 VERHOEVEN (HOL) YAMAHA 00:10:22

20 ESTEVE PUJOL (ESP) KTM 00:11:12

Click here to see the overall standings.