Argentine rider Luciano Benavides (KTM) secured his first victory in the motorcycle category at the 2026 Dakar Rally by winning the fifth stage, held between AlUla and Hail. It was a day where Argentines once again played a prominent role in several categories of the competition.
The Salta rider, on a KTM, was the fastest in the 356-kilometer timed marathon stage and won by a 3-minute 51-second margin over Chilean Ignacio Cornejo, according to Agencia Noticias Argentinas.
This result allowed him to celebrate his first stage win in this edition, twenty years after his brother Kevin's win in Hail, who is currently competing in the Challenger T3 class alongside Lisandro Sisterna.
With this result, Benavides also closed to within six minutes of the lead in the overall Motos classification.
In the Cars category, Argentine Eduardo Blanco was involved in an accident without physical consequences when his Santana, which he shares with Spanish driver Jesús Calleja, rolled over after a heavy impact upon jumping a dune during the stage.
In the SSV T4 category, Manuel Andújar remained in the Top 10 of the general classification alongside his co-driver Lisandro Sisterna by finishing seventh in the stage.
Jeremías González Ferioli also stood out, who, together with Gonzalo Rinaldi, finished fourth on the day's stage and moved up to eleventh place overall.
In the Challenger class, Argentine co-driver Bruno Jacomy celebrated again with Chilean Lucas del Río by achieving his second stage win at the 2026 Dakar.
The duo won by 24 seconds over Spanish rider Pau Navarro and climbed to fourth place in the overall standings.
Additionally, David Zille was fourth with Sebastián Cesana, while Nicolás Cavigliasso and Valentina Pertegarini finished fifth.
