Starting on January 6 on the beach of Magdalena, the challengers of the world’s toughest rally have now completed over 5500km, returning to Lima having fought over 11 days. The Monster Energy Honda Team team will now move on to their next race.
January 17: The Dakar rally has finally reached its final stage which took place from Pisco, back to where it all started in Lima. This 10th stage was a total of 359km with a shorter 112km Special Stage. Riders started in a reverse grid, customary to Dakar’s final stage. Somewhat relaxing compared to the 300km-long stages the competitors have been tackling these few days, this last day was like a victory run for the remaining 78 riders.
For Monster Energy Honda Team’s José Ignacio Cornejo, however, this stage meant a little more. With only a time gap of 5 seconds between his rival when finishing the 9th stage, this was the stage to really fight for to prove a point. Starting at 6:49am in 72nd position due to the reverse grid, he charged forward overtaking riders with speed and determination. At the finish line he had worked up to an impressive 2nd position having overtaken almost every rider, finishing 2 minutes 21 seconds behind the stage winner in a total time of 1 hour 16 minutes 22 seconds. This was his third 2nd place finish in the 2019 Dakar, and he managed to widen the gap on his rival, securing 7th overall. In his 3rd year of the Dakar, the 25-year-old Chilean has shown not only riding skills but his patience and accurate navigation skills, and bettered his last year’s result of 10th place. He is sure to be a key rider for the team in the future.
The other remaining Monster Energy Honda Team rider Kevin Benavides started this 10th stage from 65th position and finished in 6th place, 3 minutes 59 seconds off the winner. He secured 12th overall.
Another Honda CRF450 RALLY rider, Daniel Nosiglia Jagar of the MEC HRC team, started his Dakar career in 2017 in which he finished 24th, and then climbed the leaderboard to 13th last year. With a strong performance in the 9th stage this year where he finished in 2nd place, he achieved an impressive overall 10th position when returning to Lima.