American Skyler Howes Leads Dakar Rally Standings

If you tuned into the Dakar Rally today, you may have noticed an odd name at the top of the overall standings, as American privateer Skyler Howes is leading the bike category overall.

Though it is still early days at the Saudi Arabian race, the Utahn has found his way to the top by being a pillar consistency, in a field that has been anything but.

Racking up 8th, 11th, and 4th place finishes in the first three stages of the 2021 Dakar Rally, Howes leads by a slim 33 seconds to factory Honda rider Kevin Benavides, and the Top 10 riders are all within 10 minutes of each other.

Still, the American’s performance is noteworthy as the first three stages have proven themselves to be challenging for the factory favorites, with the top riders from Honda, Husqvarna, KTM, and Yamaha all suffering from various errors on the rally-raid course.

Riding with the BAS Dakar KTM Racing Team this year, Howes is riding in his third Dakar Rally.

Strong out of the gate, Howes put a Top 10 stage-finish to his name during his Dakar debut in 2019, and last year he finished 9th overall while also achieving top privateer status.

We will certainly be cheering for Howes to continue his impressive showing in this year’s Dakar, and we encourage readers to keep an eye on this name in the coming days.

Overall Standings of the 2021 Dakar Rally After Three Stages:

P.	Rider	Team	Time	Diff
1	SKYLER HOWES	BAS DAKAR KTM RACING TEAM	12H 04′ 48”
2	KEVIN BENAVIDES	MONSTER ENERGY HONDA TEAM 2021	12H 05′ 21”	00′ 33”
3	XAVIER DE SOULTRAIT	HT RALLY RAID HUSQVARNA RACING	12H 06′ 16”	01′ 28”
4	TOBY PRICE	RED BULL KTM FACTORY TEAM	12H 06′ 40”	01′ 52”
5	SAM SUNDERLAND	RED BULL KTM FACTORY TEAM	12H 10′ 15”	05′ 27”
6	ROSS BRANCH	MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA RALLY TEAM	12H 12′ 02”	07′ 14”
7	LUCIANO BENAVIDES	ROCKSTAR ENERGY HUSQVARNA FACTORY RACING	12H 12′ 44”	07′ 56”
8	JOAN BARREDA BORT	MONSTER ENERGY HONDA TEAM 2021	12H 13′ 50”	09′ 02”
9	ADRIEN VAN BEVEREN	MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA RALLY TEAM	12H 13′ 57”	09′ 09”
10	JOSE IGNACIO CORNEJO	MONSTER ENERGY HONDA TEAM 2021	12H 14′ 12”	09′ 24”