After a well-deserved day of rest in the capital of Saudi Arabia, the competition returned today with a stage connecting Riyadh to Wadi ad Dawasir, comprising a selective 462-kilometer sector on relatively fast sandy sections, plus 414 kilometers of connecting roads. It was a stage in which both Martim Ventura and Gonçalo Guerreiro maintained their positions in the standings, but closed the gap on the competitors ahead of them.
In the Rally2 category, Martim Ventura, official HRC Honda rider, once again showed great competitiveness and finished the stage in sixth place. This result allowed the bp Ultimate Adventure Team rider, who is seventh in the overall category standings, to now be just over 12 minutes behind fourth place.
In the SSV category, Gonçalo Guerreiro, official Polaris rider and navigated by Maykel Justo, finished the timed special in fifth place, just 1m27s behind the day's winner in the category. With this result, the young bp Ultimate Adventure Team rider maintained fifth place in the overall SSV standings and is now less than 25 minutes behind second place.
Starting and finishing in Wadi ad-Dawasir, the 8th stage will cover 236 kilometers and a selective sector of 481 kilometers, the longest in this edition of the race, which will take place on high off-road plateaus, where competitors will have to navigate through gorges amid vegetation and cope with sudden changes in direction, promising to be one of the most complete stages of the race.
Source: Official Press Release
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