Today's sixth stage was the longest special section of the Dakar Rally, with a 542-kilometres race, during which Yamalube Yamaha Official Rally Team's Hélder Rodrigues and Alessandro Botturi made their intentions known. Riding head to head, the official riders secured 5th and 10th place in the stage rankings. Closely following in their tracks, Yamalube Yamaha Junior Rally Team's Adrien Van Beveren and Xavier De Soultrait kept up the pace and traced their senior colleagues to finish in 9th and 18th place respectively.