The Dakar 2024 will start tomorrow with the prologue stage in the town of Alula. There will be 27 kilometers of special stage, and although the time trial will not add up in the classification, it will determine the starting order for the first stage on Saturday.

Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz will take the start for the third consecutive time with the Audi RS Q e-tron, and once again they will start as favorites to fight for what would be their fourth victory in the Saudi Arabian event.

The Dakar 2024 will have twelve stages plus tomorrow’s prologue for a total of 7,900 kilometers, which will finish on January 19 in Yanbu.

Carlos Sainz: “Everything is ready for the Dakar 2024, we are going to start this edition with great enthusiasm and we will try to have a good race. Tomorrow is the prologue, which for the first time the time does not count, but it will be important to make a good strategy to start where we want. It won’t be easy to choose the strategy, since the first ten can choose their position, but maybe it could be interesting to start further back. We will have to think about it and tomorrow we will decide. For the rest, I hope and wish to have a good Dakar and thank you in advance for all the support you give me”.

Tomorrow’s Prologue
Alula > Alula: Link > 130 km – Special > 27 km
This time, the entry into action is presented in a long version, at the maximum limit allowed by the regulations. It is no longer a sprint, it is a concentrated Dakar stage, in an exceptional place where the riders will wind through rocks, on sandy tracks and also off-road. With a test of this quality, the main mission of the prologue will necessarily be fulfilled: namely, to place the pilots in a coherent order that corresponds to their value.