Sam Sunderland clung to his narrow advantage to earn a second Dakar rally biker crown in Friday’s final stage in Saudi Arabia.
His closest competitor, Honda’s Pablo Quintella, was trailing by just under seven minutes heading into the final run from Bisha to Jeddah.
Quintella did close the gap however, finishing fastest of all, but only by three minutes and 25 seconds, with Sunderland taking second place.
This meant Sunderland did just enough to hang on and beat the Chilean in the standings.
He secured his second triumph at Dakar, after winning back in 2017, this ended a streak of two back-to-back wins for Honda.
To round out the podium was Matthias Walkner who finished seven minutes and 43 seconds behind Sunderland.
