Brabec stays in the hunt after gruelling Moroccan stage

Stage two featured a loop from the bivouac and in the briefing it was described as an extremely demanding stage, the “Queen Stage” of the rally. When the riders finally arrived back at the bivouac, it was clear that description had been accurate, it had been a really tough day.
Ricky opened the stage and faced a particularly challenging day, as leading the way on this kind of terrain is never easy. He did a great job and after Daniel Sanders caught him, the two rode together until the end of the stage. Ricky will have a good starting position tomorrow, setting off second. With a three-minute gap to Daniel, the goal will be to push from the beginning and try to catch him as quickly as possible.
Adrien finished fifth. He lost quite a bit of time early in the stage on the stony terrain, which isn’t his preferred surface. Once he reached the dunes, however, he felt much more comfortable and really enjoyed the riding. Later, while following a river section, he exited the river a little too early and had to search for the correct track, costing him some more time. He is still very much in the fight and with three days remaining, he has the opportunity to recover time and challenge for the Rally GP podium.
It hasn’t been Tosha’s rally so far this year. After winning here in 2025, things haven’t gone the way he expected this time around. Tomorrow brings another opportunity and we’ll see if he can show what he is capable of.

It was good, although today was rough. They said it was going to be physically demanding and it definitely was. It was a long day with four hours in the saddle, bouncing through rocks and the small dunettes with hard ground on the back side. It was tough. Navigation was tricky here and there, and then Daniel and I rode together from around 90 km all the way to the finish. Overall, I’m happy to have finished day two. Hopefully there are some smoother stages coming up because the body is really feeling it now.

It’s been a frustrating day. I tried to push while managing things through the stones, as it was really stony at the beginning. In the dunes I was able to make a good push, but unfortunately I got lost at 115 km. In my opinion, the road book wasn’t clear. Afterwards I lost a bit of motivation because I’d really tried my best. When you give everything and then give away that many minutes, it’s not nice. But we’ll recover, keep trying our best and be ready for tomorrow.

It’s not the Rallye du Maroc we expected or wanted. We came here fighting for the championship, but this is part of the game. We had so many problems today, but I’ll keep fighting for the next three days. We’re a long way off in the overall standings now, but anything can happen, as I always say. We’ll keep pushing and see what we can do.