MOSCOW, Jan 14 – The Czech crew led by Martin Macik on Iveco won the 13th stage of the Dakar rally-raid, which takes place in Saudi Arabia, among trucks.

Macik on Saturday overcame the special stage of 154 kilometers in 3 hours 2 minutes 43 seconds. The second was an Iveco truck driven by the Dutchman Janus Van Kasteren (+3 minutes 25 seconds), the third was another Czech crew of Jaroslav Valtra on Tatra (+10.31).

Van Casteren leads the general truck classification with a total time of 52 hours 38 minutes 58 seconds. Macik is 1 hour 16 minutes 42 seconds behind, with fellow Dutchman Martin van den Brink (Iveco, +2:43.03) third.

In the motorcycle classification, the 13th stage was won by the Argentinian Kevin Benavidez on KTM (2:21.47), the second was Michael Docherty from South Africa on Husqvarna (+0.27), the third was Kevin’s younger brother Luciano Benavidez (Husqvarna, +0.57). Australian Toby Price (KTM, 43:11.51) leads the overall standings ahead of the Dakar finals, 12 seconds behind Kevin Benavidez. The third place is occupied by American Skyler House (Husqvarna, +1.31).

Among the ATVs, the Brazilian Marcelo Medeiros (Yamaha, 2:55.48) became the winner of the stage, the second was the Chilean Giovanni Enrico (Yamaha, +1.35), the third was the Argentinean Francisco Moreno Flores (Yamaha, +3.11). France’s Alexandre Giroud (Yamaha, 54:53.18) leads the overall standings, Flores is second (+40.20), and American Pablo Copetti (Yamaha, +2:01.46) is third.

In March, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) banned competitions in Russia and Belarus due to the aggravation of the situation in Ukraine and allowed the athletes of these countries to compete in international competitions only under a neutral flag, while the riders must fulfill a number of requirements and obligations, including sign a declaration of commitment to the principles of peace and political neutrality. Because of this, racing driver Sergey Karyakin and the KAMAZ-master team refused to participate in the rally marathon.